Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 526 - 550 of 1075
(JNS) - In a video message, Rabbi Leo Dee - whose wife, Lucy, 48, and daughters, Maia, 20, and Rina, 15, were murdered in a terrorist attack - called for the observance of April 10 as "Dees Day." "Today, we differentiate between good and evil, right and wrong," he said. Dee described being unable to reach his wife and daughters, who were traveling in a different car, after hearing that there had been a terrorist attack. Then he saw a missed call from one of his daughters. "The feeling that she...
(JNS) - A coordinated cyberattack took down the websites of major Israeli universities on Tuesday. A hacker group calling itself "Anonymous Sudan" claimed responsibility for the attack on its Telegram account, stating that the "Israel education sector has been dropped because of what they did in Palestine." Institutions impacted by the attack include Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, the Open University of Israel and Reichman Un...
(JNS) — Some 60,000 tourists are expected to arrive in Israel during the Passover and Easter holidays, injecting nearly $100 million into the economy. Passover begins on Wednesday at sundown and runs seven days in the Jewish state and eight days in the Diaspora. Easter is marked on April 9, and the monthlong Muslim festival of Ramadan began on March 22. Last month, 352,000 tourist entries were recorded and, overall, 916,000 tourists have visited Israel since the beginning of the year. “The positive trend in incoming tourism, along with the inc...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday in a national address that he was putting a hold on the government’s judicial reform efforts in order to “provide a real opportunity for real dialogue.” “We are on the path toward a dangerous collision in Israeli society. We are in the midst of a crisis that endangers the basic unity between us. Such a crisis requires us all to act responsibly,” he said. “Yesterday, I read [National Unity Party Chairman] Benny Gantz’s letter in which he undertakes to enter in good faith into...
(JTA) — Like hundreds of thousands of her fellow Israelis, Kelly Breakstone Roth’s instinct on Sunday was to take to the streets. The only wrinkle: She and her family have been in Brooklyn for the last two years, part of the diaspora of hundreds of thousands of Israelis living abroad. They couldn’t just walk out the door of their apartment and join the sweeping nationwide protest that ignited after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister, who had called for a pause on proposed changes to Israel’s judiciary. So they bought...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — After three months of demonstrations dominated by detractors of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan, supporters of the proposed reform took to the streets, making their voice heard in Jerusalem and across Israel. Gathered outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, thousands of pro-reform protesters, including settlers bused in from the West Bank, sought to back Netanyahu and Justice Minister Yariv Levin, even as the prime minister announced his intention to temporarily suspend the plan. “We are trying...
TEL AVIV (JTA) - When Daniel Schleider and his wife, Lior, leave Israel next month, it will be for good - and with a heavy heart. "I have no doubt I will have tears in my eyes the whole flight," said Schleider, who was born in Mexico and lived in Israel for a time as a child before returning on his own at 18. Describing himself as "deeply Zionist," he served in a combat unit in the Israeli army, married an Israeli woman and built a career in an Israeli company. Yet as Prime Minister Benjamin...
(JNS) — Harvey Milstein’s introduction to chronic pain, and to opioids, began in 2006 when he attempted to wrestle a shotgun cartridge filled with shot out of the barrel of his gun. The gun accidentally fired, shattering his left kneecap and filling it with shrapnel. At the hospital, Milstein was given OxyContin and Percocet, opioids, to ease the pain. “The first few years they gave me medication whenever I needed it,” he recalls. “In later years they began putting limits on how much I could get.” As his walk became affected by his injured kne...
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement that he had no plans to stop the judicial reform, beginning with the passage of a bill to reform the process of appointing judges. “I’m taking the reins,” Netanyahu said, noting that until now his “hands were tied” over a conflict of interest. “For our people, and for our country I will do everything to reach a solution,” he said. Addressing the protesting IDF soldiers and reservists, the premier said: “There is no place for refusal to answer the call of duty. It endangers our nati...
(JNS) — Israel’s Knesset on Tuesday voted 31-18 to repeal articles of the 2005 Gaza Disengagement Law banning Israelis from entering and residing in four communities in northern Samaria. The Gaza disengagement led to the destruction and evacuation of the Israeli communities of Sa-Nur, Homesh, Ganim and Kadim in northern Samaria, as well as 21 communities in the Gaza Strip. In addition to rolling back the articles (23-27) banning movement into and out of, and residence in, northern Samaria, the amendment stipulates that Article 28, which can...
President Isaac Herzog recently presented his compromise proposal, the so-called “people’s plan,” to counter the government’s plans to reform the judiciary, calling for a “constitutional moment” amid what he said was a “nightmare” with “civil war looming.” “Those who think that a civil war is a border we won’t reach, have no clue,” he said in a live television address, noting that he had spoken to thousands of Israelis in recent weeks. “I’ve heard deep-rooted hatred. I’ve heard people from all sides say that if, God forbid, there’ll be blood i...
(JNS) - Israel's Defense Ministry on Wednesday inaugurated its first-ever national pavilion in Japan, at the Defense and Security Equipment International exhibition taking place in Tokyo between March 15 and 17. SIBAT, the ministry's International Defense Cooperation Directorate, is leading the delegation of 14 Israeli defense industries to the exhibition. The innovations being presented cover many fields, including unmanned aerial systems, land systems, rocket and missile systems,...
(JNS) - Israeli authorities have busted a massive black-market operation featuring rare and exotic animal species, the Nature and Parks Authority said on Tuesday. The Jerusalem-area raid was a coordinated effort of the Israel Police, Border Police and the Nature and Parks Authority National Wildlife Crime Prevention Unit. "Thanks to the cooperation of the Israel Police and Border Police, we were able to stop a breeder that was illegally keeping a large number of animals, some of which were kept...
(JNS) - The corneas of two Israeli brothers killed in Samaria a week ago Sunday were transplanted into the eyes of four Israelis at Beilinson Medical Center in Petach Tikvah on Wednesday. "I'm so excited. I couldn't have imagined. What a strong family. I'm so looking forward to meeting them already. Just to hug them," said one of the recipients, Ziona Salzberg. Ron Carmeli, another recipient, said: "When this terrible incident happened, I looked at the TV and saw their beautiful, big blue eyes....
(JNS) — Israel’s Minister of Justice Yariv Levin met on Wednesday with several prominent public figures who drafted a judicial reform compromise proposal to bridge the gaps between the sides. Levin met with Israeli jurist Yuval Elbashan, high-tech businessman Giora Yaron and former National Security Adviser Giora Eiland, who drafted the proposal. Daniel Friedmann, the former justice minister who was also involved in drafting the compromise, did not attend the meeting. On Tuesday, Levin had responded favorably to the outline, with sources fro...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday criticized as “unworthy” International Atomic Agency Director Raphael Grossi’s statement a day earlier that any attack Iran’s nuclear program would be illegal. “Against which law?” said Netanyahu at Sunday’s Cabinet meeting. “Is Iran, which openly calls for our destruction, permitted to defend the destructive weapons that would slaughter us? Are we permitted to defend ourselves? It is clear that we are, and it is clear that we will do so.” Rafael Grossi, he said, was “a worthy gentlema...
At 9:34pm Thursday, I got a strange message from my daughter in our family WhatsApp group. “For all those who asked, I am ok and alive.” Since nobody asked, her sarcasm coupled with a little fear were evident. I had been recording a podcast and didn’t know what she was talking about. None of us did. It seems that there was another terrorist attack, this time in central Tel Aviv. I hadn’t heard. Three people were injured, one shot in the neck and as of this writing in critical condition. One terrorist was killed on the spot but there are rep...
(JTA) – Less than a hour after a terror attack in eastern Jerusalem on Friday killed three people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a succinct message: Destroy the Palestinian attacker's home. "Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided to take immediate action to seal and demolish the home of the terrorist," said the statement from Netanyahu's office. Home demolition orders have almost become a matter of course following Palestinian attacks. They don't usually make headlines, n...
(JNS) — Three draft laws related to the government’s judicial reform program passed their first reading in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday. The first, coined “Deri Law 2.0,” passed by a vote of 62-53. It would prevent the Supreme Court from interfering in ministerial appointments. Its purpose is to allow Aryeh Deri, chairman of the Shas Party, to return to the government as a cabinet member after the Supreme Court said on Jan. 18 that he could not serve as a minister, as his appointment was “unreasonable in the extreme.” The court cited Deri...
(JNS) - A 4.4 magnitude earthquake centered off the coast of Lebanon in the Eastern Mediterranean was felt in Israel early Wednesday morning. There were no reports of injuries or damages in the Jewish state. The quake struck 73 kilometers northwest of Sidon, Lebanon at a depth of 10.0 kilometers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. On Monday, several people were killed and more than 200 injured in Turkey by a 6.4-magnitude earthquake centered in the country's Hatay province that was also...
TEL AVIV (JTA) — “Everyone who answers, ‘Thank God’ when asked, ‘How are you,’ raise your hand,” Brit Yakobi asked the crowd of 700 people gathered in an Orthodox synagogue in Jerusalem. The overwhelming majority of hands shot up. “Everyone who is mortified with our current government, raise your hand,” continued Yakobi, the director of religious freedom and gender at Shatil, an Israeli social justice organization founded by the New Israel Fund. Once again, almost every hand went up. The display took place at a Jan. 25 conference billing itself...
(JNS) - The Abraham Accords have made a major impact on international relations in the Middle East. They are also proving an ace for Israeli tennis. Last month, young players and coaches from the Israel Tennis & Education Centers flew to Bahrain-the nonprofit's second trip to the island kingdom, with which Israel normalized relations in Sept. 2020. The Abraham Accords impacted the centers both domestically and abroad. First, ITEC decided after the accords debuted that its vision ought to...
(JTA) — The Israeli minister responsible for relations with Jews in the Diaspora has a message for the government of the country where most of them live: “Mind your own business.” Amichai Chikli made the comment Sunday in a radio interview in Israel, where he was asked to address recent comments by U.S. ambassador Tom Nides, who said he was urging Israeli leaders to “pump the brakes” on their controversial effort to change the country’s judiciary. Nides was echoing sentiments expressed by U.S. President Joe Biden about the judicial reform prop...
(JNS) — American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch said he is working with his Israeli friends to prevent the government in Jerusalem from changing the Law of Return. Under the current law, an individual with a single Jewish grandparent is eligible for automatic Israeli citizenship. “We want the Israeli government and our friends to understand that we will act to prevent anything from happening to cause rifts within Diaspora Jewry,” Deutch said. “We don’t want anything to happen that could stop people from seeing Israel as their place of refuge...
(JNS) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday appealed to politicians and the general public to tone down the rhetoric amid threats that the government’s judicial reform proposal will ignite a “civil war.” “The values of the [1948] Declaration of Independence are the compass of our country—I will not let anyone harm them. This is a sensitive and explosive time in the public sphere. I am aware of the voices from both sides, of all the pain, worries and anxieties. I do not ignore this and it is on my mind constantly,” Herzog wrote in a le...
