Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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If it feels like there’s an overload of news out of Israel — a sea of flags at a Jerusalem protest, police sirens outside of a synagogue — that’s because there is. Israel has been consumed by two escalating crises that both appear to be crescendoing at the same time. And even though they feel separate, they’re intertwined in at least one big way. Allow us to explain: Israel is simultaneously contending with two things: a wave of Palestinian terror attacks and Israeli military raids in the West Bank, and massive protests of a government plan to...
(JNS) - The Knesset approved on Wednesday in first reading a bill to abolish the Disengagement Law by a vote of 62-36. The Disengagement Law led to the destruction and evacuation of four Jewish communities in northern Samaria-Sa-Nur, Homesh, Ganim and Kadim-and 21 in the Gaza Strip. The law would restore freedom of movement to Israelis in the four Samaria communities. Knesset member Yuli Edelstein and National Missions Minister Orit Strook sponsored the measure at the request of Samaria...
(JTA) — One of the Israeli teams dispatched to Turkey to assist after the devastating earthquakes there has headed home after being informed about a “concrete and immediate threat” against them. United Hatzalah told its team of roughly two dozen personnel in Turkey to end their rescue mission and leave the country, the emergency services organization announced early Sunday. Because of a shortage of available planes to evacuate them, the philanthropist Miriam Adelson donated her private jet to facilitate the evacuation, the group said. “We k...
(JNS) — Oztma Yehudit lawmaker Zvika Fogel on Tuesday accused opposition leader Yair Lapid and three others of “treason” for what he views as fomenting a civil war. In an interview with the Kan public broadcaster, Fogel defined Lapid, National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz, former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and former Deputy Economy Minister Yair Golan as the “most dangerous” people in Israel. “These four are talking about war. If they were calling to protest I’d give them every right to protest. But they’re talking in terms of me being...
(JNS )- Marc and Sharon Rosenbluth explored neighborhoods all over the country, but when they made aliyah, they chose to live in Karnei Shomron, a well-appointed village about 20 minutes away from Rosh HaAyin and Kfar Saba, beyond the Green Line. "I was coming from a suburban life outside of Baltimore and I wanted my children to have a yard to play in, a basketball hoop-a similar existence," said Sharon. "Even though we used to laugh at flocks of goats on the side of the road when visiting my...
(JNS) - The Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee has called for an emergency meeting to review the country's earthquake preparedness in light of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria on Monday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi to "update and reiterate the steps we need to take." Comptroller's Warning State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman on Monday urged the government not to delay. The deadly earthquakes in...
(JNS) - Israel's Cabinet voted on Sunday to establish a new community along the border with the Gaza Strip. The future town, to be named Hanun, will be located in the Sdot Negev Region and eventually be inhabited by some 500 families. "The establishment of the community is further evidence of the resilience of the [citizens living in the] 'Gaza envelope' and the power of the State of Israel. We're proud to build up the Land of Israel and we're proud to strengthen settlement in all parts of our l...
(JNS) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intervened to delay the demolition of an illegally constructed building in eastern Jerusalem due to American pressure, Channel 11 reported. Netanyahu was also reportedly warned by security forces that amid the current tensions, the building’s destruction could set off a round of violence in the largely Arab part of the capital. The large building houses 100 persons and is located in the Wadi Qaddum section of Silwan/Shiloah, an Arab neighborhood in the city’s southeast. The illegal structure has been...
(JNS) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led a tree-planting ceremony on Monday to mark Tu Bishvat in the Neve Ya'akov neighborhood of Jerusalem, where a Palestinian terrorist killed seven people last month. Netanyahu was joined by Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and family members of the murder victims, as well as police officers, medics and paramedics who treated the wounded at the scene of the Jan. 27 attack. The following day, another Palestinian terrorist shot and seriously wounded an Israeli...
(JNS) — A recent surge in legal immigration has led to a decrease in Israel’s Jewish majority, according to an analysis of data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Channel 14 reported on Sunday. The Israeli Immigration Policy Center, an NGO established in 2012 to promote immigration policy which serves Israel’s strategic interests, found that last year’s 23-year record in the number of new immigrants had resulted in a 0.3 percent decline in Israel’s Jewish majority, to 73.6 percent from 73.9 percent at the end of 2021. This...
HAIFA - On a recent chilly morning, six Israeli Druze women gathered in a room at the University of Haifa library to discuss the joys and frustrations of living in a modern, Jewish, largely secular country. Chatting in Arabic and Hebrew, many of the women, all students at the university, spoke about the challenges of balancing their traditional Druze identity with their modern Israeli aspirations. "I spend two hours each way to come to school. But my education is so important, I'd do it even if...
(JNS) — Israel on Sunday revoked the VIP pass of Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki, in line with a Cabinet decision last week to sanction Ramallah in response to the U.N.’s passage, at the P.A.’s behest, of a resolution asking the International Court of Justice to weigh in on the legal status of Judea and Samaria. Border officials stopped al-Malki as he crossed from Jordan into the P.A., and confiscated the travel document allowing him to expedite or altogether bypass normal security checks in Judea and Samaria. “In the dip...
(JNS) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Sunday that “profound” disagreement over the government’s judicial reform plan was tearing the country apart, and vowed to work towards averting a constitutional crisis. “We are in the grips of a profound disagreement that is tearing our nation apart. This conflict worries me deeply, as it worries many across Israel and the Diaspora. The foundations of Israeli democracy, including the justice system, are sacred and we must strictly safeguard them, even at a time of fundamental arguments and debat...
(JNS) — Punitive measures imposed by Israel on the Palestinian Authority will “promptly lead to its collapse,” P.A. Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Monday. Israel’s Security Cabinet last week approved the measures in response to what it described as the P.A.’s ongoing “political and legal war” against the Jewish state. They came a week after the U.N. General Assembly, at the urging of the P.A., passed a resolution calling on the International Court of Justice to “render urgently an advisory opinion” on Israel’s “prolonged occupati...
(JTA) — A prize established to honor a single inspiring Jew with a lifetime of achievements has been awarded this year to a nameless group whose work is ongoing: Jewish activists in war-ravaged Ukraine. The Genesis Prize Foundation said the war in Ukraine required a change in the approach it has taken since creating the prize, known by some as the “Jewish Nobel,” a decade ago. “Recognizing the extraordinary nature of events dominating the past 11 months, The Genesis Prize Selection Committee has decided to depart from the usual custom of awar...
(JTA) – As Israel’s new right-wing government continued to signal that it would push through measures to cripple the judiciary and clamp down on public dissent and news operations, thousands of citizens took to the streets in protest and one prominent opposition figure warned of imminent “civil war.” A reported 10,000 demonstrators gathered Saturday night in Tel Aviv to protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new right-wing government, which contains several ministers who are openly hostile to Arabs and Palestinians, LGBTQ peo...
(JTA) - The genealogy website MyHeritage posted 1.7 million Israeli immigration records online this week, making accessible a trove of ship and plane passenger lists stored in bound tomes at the Israel State Archives. The records cover arrivals to the country for about 60 years starting in 1919. They include details such as the name of immigrants, country of origin, birth year, date of arrival, destination city and the name of the vessel they arrived on. MyHeritage is billing the records as the...
(JNS) - Concerned Israeli parents are complaining that their children aren't learning even the basics of Judaism in the country's public schools. Activists say the issue goes beyond a failure to teach, claiming that there's a concerted effort to replace Jewish content with progressive material, financed largely by foreign actors. Still in its early stages, the movement echoes the fight against "wokeism" in the United States, where parents battle school boards over what they see as left-wing...
(JNS) — Seven months ago, following years of aggressive cancer treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma, Ayelet Rosenberg, 35, gave birth to her fourth child, Yishai, making history as the first woman in the world to give birth to four children through cryopreservation of her eggs. The successful treatment was made possible by the innovative work of the Fertility Preservation Center at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan. The experimental method performed by Prof. Dror Meirow, head of the center, i...
(JNS) - Hundreds of Jews aged 18 to 30 from the former Soviet Union, eager to join Masa Israel Journey's two-to-12-month study, service and career development programs, have been unable to do so for lack of funding. Taking up the challenge, the Jewish Agency for Israel announced that it raised an impressive $3 million in 24 hours. The money will be used in order to accept hundreds of Masa Israel applicants who were placed on a waiting list pending budgetary approval. The Jewish Agency turned to...
(JNS) - Israel's thirty-seventh government was sworn in on Thursday, the culmination of a weeks-long political process following the victory of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-religious bloc in the Nov. 1 national elections. Netanyahu, Israel's longest-ever serving leader, takes the reins for his sixth term in the Prime Minister's Office, to which he returns following a year-and-a-half hiatus. His Likud Party will lead a 64-member coalition in the 120-seat Knesset, that comprises the R...
As Benjamin Netanyahu made his dramatic return as Israel’s prime minister for a sixth term, Yair Lapid left the plenary hall without shaking his successor’s hand as per the custom. After being sworn-in, Netanyahu, who was interrupted by heckling, took the podium and chastized the Lapid-led opposition for lamenting “the end of democracy.” “This new government is determined to restore governance, peace, and personal security to the citizens of Israel.” “I hear the opposition eulogizing ‘the end of democracy.’ Members of the opposition, losing the...
(JNS) - An ancient Jerusalem pool that was used by millions of Jewish pilgrims during the time of the Second Temple two millennia ago as a ritual bath before ascending the Temple Mount, and revered by Christians as the site where Jesus cured a blind man, will be fully excavated and then opened to the public, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday. The Pool of Siloam, located in the southern portion of the City of David, the ancient epicenter of Jerusalem, and just outside the Old...
(JNS) - Israel inducted a historic right-wing government Thursday, led by three-time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu's return to power and the formation of a strong right-wing government is a tremendous achievement for a nation that has increasingly turned towards the right-wing values of strong security and protecting the Jewish character of the state. The 64-member Likud-led coalition, joined by Netanyahu's loyal right-wing and religious allies, puts to bed years of electoral...
(JNS) - Some 70,000 people from 95 different countries immigrated to Israel in 2022 with the assistance of the Jewish Agency for Israel, in cooperation with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration. It was the most olim in 23 years and a dramatic increase from 2021, when about 28,600 immigrants arrived in the country. Jewish Agency data for the period between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1, 2022, shows that 37,364 olim arrived from Russia; 14,680 from Ukraine; 3,500 from North America, with assistance from...
