Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s participation in an upcoming event at the community of Elkana in Samaria is sparking controversy and generating protests against his participation, with residents telling Bennett “stay away.” Bennett is planning to participate in an event celebrating the town’s 45th anniversary. However, residents say that his visit is “an attempt to cynically exploit the residents of Elkana and make political capital, while Bennett’s government violates the state’s Jewish and Zionist values on a daily basis.” Residents have lau...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Three-quarters of Arab Israelis believe Jews have no right to sovereignty in the country, according to a recent study by Israeli NGO Habithonistim–Protectors of Israel. When asked where their loyalties would lie in case of an existential battle between Israel and Arab states, 26 percent of Arab Israelis said they would support the Jewish state, 23 percent said they would back Israel’s enemies and 51 percent said they would remain neutral. The survey, which focused on Israeli’s sense of security and governance, had a s...
(JTA) – Israel has granted a temporary residency to American basketball player Jared Armstrong, ending for now a months-long saga of multiple rejections, accusations of racism and petitions by influential people including an American investor and a rabbi with close ties to President Joe Biden. Israel’s Interior Ministry, which handles citizenship applications, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency of its decision Sunday, three weeks after Armstrong’s tourist visa expired and one week after the ministry announced it would be granting citizenship to...
(JNS) — Israel’s security forces worked in an intensive, integrated manner to disrupt the wave of terrorist violence that had afflicted Israel beginning in March and lasting through the first week of April. A number of factors have now led to the current relative calm, a security source stated, listing those factors as firm enforcement in the form of hundreds of arrests, tens of administrative detention decrees, tens of investigations, hundreds of people questioned and many conversations with persons of concern. Looking ahead, the Israeli def...
(JNS) — Israel began marking the Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism on Tuesday evening when, at 8 p.m., a one-minute siren rang out throughout the country, causing all to stop in silence. The central ceremony was held at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem in the presence of Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi. In his speech, Herzog stated: “Our sons and daughters, who fell in defense of our state, fought together and fell together. They did not ask...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - Some 38,000 new immigrants will celebrate their first Independence Day as Israeli citizens this year, according to figures released by the Jewish Agency on Sunday. The figure marks a two-decade immigration record. The data also shows that immigration was driven higher by the war in Ukraine, where the Jewish Agency, in cooperation with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews , helped rescue thousands of Jewish refugees. Upon arrival in Israel, the Aliyah and...
(JNS) - Nefesh B'Nefesh, in partnership with Israel's Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and JNF-USA, welcomed its 74,000th new immigrant on Wednesday. Charley Smith, 34, made aliyah from Florida and reunited with his wife, Shaked, and their son, Adar, who arrived in Israel earlier this month. He landed just one week before Israel celebrates its 74th Independence Day. Originally from Minneapolis, Charley's connection to the Jewish state...
(JNS) - Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe and the three other members of the Axiom-1 (Ax-1) mission are on their way back to Earth following a 15-day stay in the International Space Station, according to the Axiom Space website. Their spacecraft, the SpaceX Dragon Endeavor, undocked from the ISS at 9:10 p.m. ET on Sunday and was scheduled to splash down off the Florida coast on Monday afternoon. The return trip had been delayed for several days due to bad weather. Stibbe, a businessman and a...
(J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) - Koby Geduld clocks into work at 7 p.m. most nights. He's a project coordinator for Tile, the San Mateo–based maker of Bluetooth-enabled tracking devices. He boots up his laptop from his home, responding to messages and having meetings until 3 a.m. No, Geduld isn't nocturnal (at least not naturally). He's working overnight hours because he no longer lives in the Bay Area. Instead, he's 10 hours ahead, in Jerusalem - where he and his wife m...
(JTA) — The Temple Mount is closed to Jewish visitors “until further notice,” the organization that coordinates visits by Jews said on April 23, after a fresh round of clashes between Israeli police and Muslim worshippers at the Jerusalem holy site’s Al-Aqsa Mosque. The move was expected to last through Ramadan, but the Temple Mount Administration’s language suggests the ban could last longer, according to the Jerusalem Post. The Administration — separate from the Waqf, the Muslim authority that controls the site — is a joint steering comm...
(JNS) — Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Tuesday that he is advancing a plan to grant work permits to tens of thousands of additional Palestinians. Currently, an estimated 100,000 Palestinians enter Israel legally to work after being screened by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and receiving an Israeli permit. Gantz said that the measure would be advanced alongside ongoing intensified intelligence, as well as offensive and defensive steps currently being taken by security forces to quash the recent wave of deadly terrorism. ...
NOF HAGALIL, Israel (JTA) - During Veronika Maidanova's first two days attending school in Israel, the 8-year-old felt completely lost. "Everyone spoke Hebrew and I didn't understand anything," she recalled, weeks after fleeing her native Ukraine for the safety, but unfamiliarity, of Israel. Then her mother heard about a school focused on new immigrants where 90 percent of students speak Russian. She quickly enrolled Veronica in the Shuvu Renanim school in Nof Hagalil, a city of 41,000 in the...
(JTA) - Of all the issues facing Israel - violence within the country, how to handle Russia's war on Ukraine, Iran - the one that appears to have put the country's delicate governing coalition at risk could appear picayune. When Idit Silman, a member of Knesset from the right-wing Yamina party, surprised government leaders and even her party by resigning Wednesday, she said she was doing so over hospital food. Her decision vaults issues of religious freedom and Israel's Jewish character to the...
(JTA) — Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has joined an international chorus condemning what appears to be mass civilian casualties in areas of Ukraine where Russian troops are pulling out. Lapid’s comments came hours after his ministry downplayed similar condemnation from Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine amid ongoing efforts by Israel to navigate a fine line in responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “It is impossible to remain indifferent in the face of the horrific images from the city of Bucha near Kiev, from after the Russian a...
(World Israel News) - Two of the fatalities from Thursday's terror attack in Tel Aviv were identified as childhood friends Tomer Morad and Eytam Magini. They had arrived early at Ikla Bar on Tel Aviv's Dizengoff St. on Thursday night to celebrate Magimi's engagement to Ayala Arad. Both were buried in Kfar Saba's Pardes Haim Cemetery on Sunday. "In this house, where we are now mourning, there was supposed to be a party this evening," Lia Arad, Ayala's mother, told Walla! News. "They met by...
(JNS) — Israel’s leadership vowed a swift response to ending the latest terror wave, while also offering condolences to the victims and their families, in a flurry of statements on Tuesday evening. “Israel is facing a deadly wave of Arab terrorism,” said Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in a statement. “My heart goes out to the families who lost their loved ones tonight, and I pray for the well-being of the wounded.” He went on to say that security forces are responding, and that “we will fight terror with perseverance, stubbornness...
(JNS) — Israel will host a landmark summit on Sunday night and Monday that will include the top diplomats from the United States, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will host the conference, the foreign ministry said on Friday. It will be attended by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita. The foreign ministers will arrive beginning at the I...
(JTA) — Israel is the ninth happiest country in the world, according to the World Happiness Report, a project of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Israel has moved slowly up the rankings in recent years, going from No. 14 in 2020 to No. 11 in 2021. The report, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, says it factors a country’s GDP, social support, life expectancy, “freedom to make life choices,” citizen generosity and perceptions of corruption into its ranking. The U.N. is known as a harsh critic of Israel, s...
(Israel21C via JNS) - Almost a decade ago, a group of women from the Arab Jerusalem neighborhood of Isawiya looked for a program where they could study Hebrew. They didn't find anything appropriate, and ended up inviting two students from the nearby Hebrew University to teach them. They enjoyed their studies so much that a year later they sought to bring aboard all their female friends, relatives and neighbors. That's how the "Women Speaking Hebrew" program began. Fast forward a few years, and...
(JNS) - Two dozen Christian parliamentarians wrapped up a visit to Israel on Tuesday with discussions on how to embrace and defend Israel in modern times. The discussions were the culmination of a three-day journey that took them to the Western Wall, key holy sites in Judea and Samaria and face-to-face meetings with the country's top political leaders. The MPs were in Israel through the Israel Allies Foundation, the umbrella organization of more than 50 pro-Israel parliamentary caucuses from...
(JNS) — Remnants of poliovirus were discovered in sewage samples in Tiberias, adding to the growing list of hot spots in the country, Israel’s Ministry of Health said in a statement. A 4-year-old girl from Jerusalem tested positive for the virus earlier this month, marking the country’s first case in more than 30 years. Since then, another child has tested positive and five others, suspected of carrying the virus, are being tested. In all of the above cases, the children were not vaccinated against polio. Last week, the Health Ministry said...
A hopeful and dominant topic of conversation at this week’s National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville has been the re-opening of tourism to Israel for all, vaccinated and unvaccinated alike. Two years ago, at the same event and location, the early impact of the COVID virus started to be felt with early reports of Israel’s national airline laying off the first 1000 employees. Ultimately, nearly all tourism would be shut down leading to millions of cancelations, tens of tho...
(JNS) — The Knesset, which was to vote to revamp rules regarding Jewish conversion, has delayed the bill until the start of its summer session in May due to the political sensitivity of the issue. The delayed vote represents the latest in a series of efforts to resolve religious disputes through political means—most recently, an attempt to establish prayer sections for different streams of Judaism at the Western Wall (Kotel) and to introduce competition to kosher certification, currently a monopoly of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. Of the three...
(JTA) — Israel began allowing unvaccinated tourists to enter the country on March 1 as the county’s COVID case numbers continue to decline, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz announced. Tourists will still need to produce negative PCR tests before and after their flights, while Israelis will only need to take a test upon landing. The more lax rules mean that children under the age of five who are ineligible to be vaccinated can now enter the country. Only fully vaccinated tourists have been allowed in since Jan...
By Israel Kasnett (JNS) - Screams pierce the air as the dust clears and survivors begin to emerge from the rubble. More than 10,000 people have been killed and 20,000 more are injured. Thousands of buildings across the country have collapsed. In some areas, there is deathly silence; in others, cries for help can be heard from beneath the debris. The streets are impassable; shattered glass, bricks and chunks of concrete are strewn everywhere. Trees, light poles and electrical wires lie across...
