Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - The Israel Police has established a dedicated team to deal with the increasing phenomenon of left-wing anarchists who are undermining security and stability in Judea and Samaria, Ynet reported Tuesday. The special division, which includes detectives from the investigation and intelligence unit who work in cooperation with immigration officers and officials from the Population and Immigration Authority, works under the command of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir....
(JNS) — Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich aims to legalize 68 outposts in Judea and Samaria and has instructed various ministries to prepare to provide them with public services. Smotrich is also a minister in the Defense Ministry with broad authority over civilian issues in the disputed territories. “We welcome the progress on the approvals for 68 ‘young communities’ in Judea and Samaria. These are communities established years ago and sanctioned by the country,” Yesha Council Chairman Shlomo Ne’eman said. The council is the umbrell...
(JNS) - The Israeli Cabinet on Wednesday unanimously approved a five-year strategic plan to rebuild, develop and strengthen the western Negev communities devastated during Hamas's Oct. 7 terrorist invasion. The 19-billion-shekel ($5 billion) program, which will be carried out by the recently created Tekuma ("Revival") Authority, will see investment in housing, infrastructure, education, employment opportunities, medical services and more, the Prime Minister's Office said. "The Hamas terrorists...
(JNS) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday night shared new footage showing Yarden Bibas, the father of Kfir and Ariel and the husband of Shiri, being abducted by Hamas terrorists to the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7. The 40-second video segment shows a bloodied Yarden being kidnapped by armed terrorists on a motorcycle. A large crowd of Palestinians and journalists gathers around the hostage, taking photos and abusing him. “The world must not remain silent in the face of such crimes. Bring them home now!” Herzog wrote on X. The world must...
(JNS) — The Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) denied a report on Sunday by the British Daily Mail that intelligence gathered by Israel’s internal security service is leading to fears that only 40 hostages out of the 133 still being held by Hamas in Gaza are alive. According to the report from the London-based tabloid, a dwindling number of captives have survived after 253 were kidnapped during the Hamas-led rampage across the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7. The report cites the Shin Bet and anonymous sources to make the claim. “The publi...
Natalie Sopinsky lives in Suissa, Israel, in the southeast Negev. She shares her daily life with Heritage readers, her thoughts, her reality in the land she loves. Welcome to Israel ... where we allow terrorist murderers free reign. They have education, jobs, families, possessions...they are normal citizens. So why do they hate us so much? What pushes a mother to kill? What causes a mother to be a killer, to forfeit her life, to lead a life in jail? Why attempt to kill an Israeli soldier? As we...
(JNS) - "A farmer does not leave his land." Six months after losing his wife, his 15-year-old son and one of his legs in the Oct. 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel, Avida Bachar is back on his land. Walking with a cane and a prosthetic leg after nearly half a year in the hospital, the 50-year-old farmer stares out at the avocado plantation in Kibbutz Be'eri, where he was born and which lies less than a mile from the border with Gaza. On Oct. 7, Bachar's wife and son...
(JNS) - Dor Kapah, 30, stood before a group of students at the University of Florida, recounting a harrowing tale that seemed straight out of a war movie. But it wasn't fiction; it was a gripping account of his escape from Hamas terrorists, relentlessly pursuing him no matter where he fled. His narrative unfolded with descriptions of shooting, bombing and the kidnapping and murder of his friends. The students listened in stunned silence as Kapah detailed the events of Oct. 7, a day etched in...
(JNS) - The mayors of cities in Massachusetts, South Carolina and Oregon returned last week from a four-day visit to Israel, where they met with political officials, business leaders, academics and regional experts. The three U.S. municipal leaders-Jon Mitchell, the mayor of New Bedford, Mass.; Daniel Rickman, mayor of Columbia, S.C.; and Travis Stovall, mayor of Gresham, Ore.-also spoke with released hostages, their families and those working to see the return of the rest of the captives still...
It's rare, if ever, that one sits at home watching news of an impending attack that's already been launched at your country. But that's exactly what I did last night. First the IDF issued instructions to keep Israelis safe, including closing all schools, banning gatherings of more than 1000 people, and what to do in case of an air raid siren. An hour or so later it was announced that Iran had already launched dozens (up to 150-200) armed drones at Israel that would take as long as 9 hours to...
(JNS) — The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews will be supporting over 100,000 people in Israel this Passover, with a specific focus on families directly affected by the ongoing war against Hamas, especially bereaved families, hostages’ relatives and the tens of thousands of evacuees. As part of the 2024 Passover program, IFCJ will be distributing close to 19,000 600 shekel ($162) debit cards for evacuated families to use toward purchasing food items. The cards will also be delivered to families of injured soldiers as well as rel...
(JNS) — Israel’s War Cabinet on Sunday recommended retaliating to the first-ever direct Iranian attack on the Jewish state, although they were divided on the scope and timing of the response, Reuters reported on Monday, citing Israeli officials. However, no final decision was made, per reports, and ministers were to reconvene at 2 p.m. Monday to continue deliberations. The Islamic Republic and its terror proxies launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday night, with Israel and its military allies shooting down most of the...
(JNS) — Newly emerged video shot by Hamas terrorists showing the capture of female Israeli soldiers on the Gaza border has been described as “hard to watch” by Israeli media. In the video, parts of which have not been shared with the public, Hamas terrorists are initially seen with five female spotters, with two more later being added. “We will exchange you for our people,” the terrorists say. Another terrorist forces one of the soldiers to show him how to dial a Gaza number from her cell phone. The terrorists later put the soldiers into stol...
(JNS) - The father of an Israeli Defense Forces soldier killed in action in the Gaza Strip has denounced renewed anti-government protests, accusing demonstrators of using the plight of bereaved families and the relatives of hostages to further their political aims. "Nobody should burn the country down," Hagay Lober, whose son Staff Sgt. (res.) Elisha Yehonatan Lober, 24, was killed in the southern Gaza Strip in December, wrote in a viral Facebook post on Sunday. "You cannot dismantle the...
(JNS) - Israel will open a new land crossing to the Gaza Strip designed primarily to facilitate the entry of foreign aid, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday. Gallant told reporters that the new crossing point would be established in the northern part of the coastal enclave, between the Israeli village of Zikim and the Palestinian village of As-Siafa. According to the minister, the new crossing will reduce travel time for trucks to enter Gaza after picking up shipments at...
(JNS) — Washington has no evidence that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testified during a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee about the 2025 defense budget. About a dozen and a half anti-Israel protesters, who disrupted the beginning of the nearly three-hour hearing, were removed from the room. “I want to address what the protesters raised earlier: Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) asked Austin. “We don’t have any evidence of genocide,” Au...
(JTA) — In the largest antigovernment demonstration since Oct. 7, thousands of protesters gathered in Jerusalem to call on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to step down and for Israel to reach a deal to free the hostages held in Gaza. And in a dramatic turn in Tel Aviv, the main organization lobbying on behalf of the families of Israeli hostages in Gaza said it would cease its Saturday night rallies in what has come to be known as Hostages Square and instead join in anti-government protests that have taken place in a dif...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — There has been no shortage of hints when it comes to the White House’s efforts to convey the message that Israel should refrain from taking action in Rafah, find a path to a ceasefire, and increase aid to Gaza. Vice President Kamala Harris turned this subtlety into explicit policy when she threatened Israel that there could be consequences to an operation in the city. On Monday, the rhetoric turned into action at the U.N. Israelis by and large will likely brush off the Security Council resolution as yet “another examp...
(JNS) — Hamas will not release any of the 134 hostages it holds until Israel ends the war, withdraws its troops, allows all Gazans to return to their homes and lifts the blockade on the coastal enclave, the terrorist group’s leader Khaled Mashaal said on Wednesday. Speaking at a women’s event in Jordan, Mashaal declared that the organization’s leadership is “waging a negotiating battle no less fierce” than the military conflict with the Israel Defense Forces, according to a readout of his remarks posted to Telegram by Hamas. “Inshallah...
(JNS) - As part of truce talks taking place in Doha, Qatar, Israeli officials have agreed to release between 700 to 800 Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for 40 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to various media reports. The inmates include 100 serving life sentences for murdering Israelis, Axios journalist Barak Ravid reported on Sunday, citing two Israeli officials. Ravid reported that the number stands at 700, while an Israeli official briefed on the Doha...
(New York Jewish Week) – An Israeli hostage who was released from Hamas captivity said the support of New York’s Jewish community “gives us strength” as thousands of demonstrators gathered in Central Park on Sunday morning to mark 150 days since the captives were taken in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. “This support is really moving,” said Keren Munder, who was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz with other members of her family. She was released in November, during a temporary ceasefire, with her 9-year-old son, Ohad, and her mother, Ruti, 78. Her father,...
(JNS) — At the request of Germany, Israeli authorities transferred some 70 Palestinian orphans between the ages of 3 and 15 from the Gaza Strip to Bethlehem in Judea on Monday. The National Security Council in the Prime Minister’s Office reportedly approved the move without informing the Security Cabinet. Israel Defense Forces soldiers escorted the convoy of buses with Gaza orphans and their companions, which passed through the outskirts of Jerusalem on its way to Judea, Channel 12 News reported. The move was said to have been authorized follow...
(JNS) - Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz sent a sharply worded letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, charging him with a blatant disregard for the atrocities committed by Hamas against the Jewish people on Oct. 7. "Your dismissal of the heinous acts as documented in the recent U.N. report-acts which are still being perpetrated-is not only inadequate but also offensive," wrote Katz. "The world has been waiting five months for your actions. The necessity to declare...
(JNS) - Tel Aviv's bustling Dizengoff Street was lined with people garbed in Purim costumes on Sunday, even as the celebrations were noticeably muted compared to years past due to the ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. "This year feels different with everything that has been happening. There are people who aren't celebrating with us because they can't and there are those who will never celebrate again," Zach Blank, 28, who immigrated to Tel Aviv from the United States 10 years ago,...
(JNS) — Despite heightened tensions five months into Israel’s war with Hamas, Jerusalem remains committed to upholding freedom of worship, Israeli officials told foreign press at a special Ramadan briefing in Jerusalem on Tuesday. “We take pride in being a nation that welcomes all faiths and protects freedom of religion and worship,” said Tal Heinrich, spokeswoman for the Prime Minister’s Office. While Israel hasn’t placed any restrictions on Arab-Israeli Muslims who wish to visit the Temple Mount during the month-long holiday, age restriction...
