Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — The Israeli Ministry of Tourism will allocate approximately $64 million (230 million NIS) to 55 tourism projects across the country. This will include $6 million in Judea and Samaria, the highest budget for the region in the last five years, and $18 million in Israel’s north. “On assuming my role as Tourism minister, I decided to increase investment in the Judea and Samaria region, the biblical heartland of Israel, with its rich history, stunning landscapes and natural beauty,” Israeli Minister of Tourism Haim Katz told JNS. “Judea...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached out to and delivered a message of hope to the Iranian people. “People of Iran: As we see history unfold before our very eyes, I can only imagine what you’re feeling right now. Your oppressors spent over 30 billion dollars supporting Assad in Syria. Today, after only 11 days of fighting, his regime collapsed into dust. Your oppressors spent billions supporting Hamas in Gaza. Today their regime lies in ruins. Your oppressors spent over 20 billion dollars supporting Hezbollah in Leban...
(JTA) — A ballistic missile fired from Yemen severely damaged a Tel Aviv-area school early Thursday morning, in some of the most significant damage yet in an ongoing barrage from Houthi rebels based there. No children were present at the school in the suburb of Ramat Gan, which officials said would be rebuilt, and would reopen in another already constructed building within weeks. The rocket, which Israel partially intercepted, was fired as Israeli fighter jets were on their way to Yemen to target Houthi positions there. Dozens of jets t...
(JNS) — Hamas has agreed to two of Israel’s key conditions for a ceasefire in Gaza, raising hopes for an agreement to release hostages within days, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Hamas for the first time agreed to accept the presence of Israeli forces in Gaza during a 60-day truce, the newspaper quoted unnamed Arab mediators as saying. The sources also confirmed to the paper reports from earlier in the week that Hamas had submitted a list of hostages, including U.S. citizens, whom it would release. The purported breakthrough fol...
(JNS) — A majority of Kibbutz Nir Oz members voted on Monday to return to their destroyed homes and rebuild. The kibbutz was among the hardest hit communities during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel. One in four residents was either killed or kidnapped, including the Bibas family, mother Shiri, husband Yarden and their two children, Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months old. In a letter to the government, the kibbutz members stressed their expectations for a large-scale and generous construction plan, according to Israel’s Chann...
(JNS) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told representatives of hostages’ families groups on Sunday that the fall of the Assad regime, weakened by Israel’s determined stand against Hezbollah and Hamas, could help advance a deal for the return of the hostages. Netanyahu held two separate meetings in Jerusalem, one with the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum and the other with the Tikva Forum. The two groups differ on the best way to free the hostages, with the right-leaning Tikva Forum opposing the former’s call for a deal at any cos...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday for the latter’s “strong statement” calling on Hamas to release the 101 hostages it has held in Gaza for 424 days. “It is a forceful statement, which makes it clear that there is only one responsible for this situation, and that is Hamas,” the Israeli premier said. Netanyahu addressed the president-elect’s remarks ahead of an Israeli government meeting in Nahariya, a northern city that has often been the target of cross-border attacks by Irani...
(JNS) - Dozens of volunteers are heading north, following the implementation of Israel's ceasefire with Iranian proxy Hezbollah that ended 14 months of war, to assist local farmers in their recovery efforts. "We are currently developing a plan with the aim of bringing at least 100,000 volunteers in the coming months to support farmers in the north," said Yoel Zilberman, founder and CEO of the HaShomer HaChadash ("The New Watchman") agricultural volunteer organization, who is leading the effort....
(JTA) — Syrian dictator Bashar Assad has fled the country and his government has fallen to rebels, a swift and stunning collapse after more than a decade of civil war. The country is now enveloped in joy and turmoil as hundreds of thousands of refugees stream home, political prisoners go free and Syrians — along with the rest of the world — wonder what’s next. Also wrapped up in uncertainty: Syria’s neighbor and longtime adversary, Israel. Assad’s fall came after several of his regional partners have been weakened in Israel’s multi-front w...
(JTA) — Israel’s security cabinet approved a U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposal with Hezbollah, which ends more than a year of conflict with the terror group on Israel’s border with Lebanon. President Biden said in an address to the nation after the agreement that Lebanon’s government agreed to the agreement, and that the withdrawal of forces starting then would take up to 60 days. The ceasefire took effect early Wednesday morning in the region. “I’m pleased to announce that their governments have accepted the United States proposal to end the...
(JNS) - More than two decades on from suffering horrific injuries in a Hamas terror attack, a New Jersey resident says she and other victims have been "retraumatized" by ongoing support for Hamas on American streets and university campuses. Sarri Singer, a Lakewood native, was volunteering in Israel when she was seriously wounded in the Davidka Square suicide bombing on a Jerusalem 14A bus on June 11, 2003. The Palestinian terrorist, dressed as an Orthodox Jew, had boarded the bus at the Mahane...
(JNS) - We collectors are an odd but determined group. We latch on to a story and spend countless hours finding tangible items that tell it. We are determined that the story will never be forgotten. Nothing will stop us from telling that story, not even a Hezbollah rocket. My friend Hadi Orr is a collector of Israeliana. (Yes, there is such a word). He has amassed a collection of tens of thousands of items. His collection ranges from El Al and Naomi Shemer paraphernalia to key chains, New...
(JNS) — Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that he had decided to end the use of administrative detention orders against Israeli citizens, in a move that bears significant change for law enforcement in Judea and Samaria. “Given that the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria are subject to Palestinian terror threats and unjust international sanctions are slapped against the settlers, it is improper that the State of Israel would apply such a severe measure against the people of the settlements,” Katz said in a statement. Katz infor...
(JNS) — The Knesset’s Economic Affairs Committee will convene on Monday to discuss a request made by airline companies to amend the Aviation Services Law so they can resume their flights to and from Israel. In the wake of Israel’s more than year-long war on its southern and northern borders, a host of foreign airlines suspended flights to the Jewish state, sharply cutting options for travelers and leading to higher prices for seats on local carriers. Airline companies complained that the law is causing them great losses, through no fault of th...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told lawmakers at the Knesset in Jerusalem that outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden’s advice on how to handle the wars with Iran and its terrorist proxies across the region was often incorrect, and that Jerusalem had opted to “follow our own view.” Following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre from the Gaza Strip, Washington “suggested that we not go in on the ground,” he said during a 40-signature debate, which opposition lawmakers can call once a month and in which the premier is le...
(JNS) — The Biden administration announced a new round of sanctions against three Israeli entities and three individuals, pursuant to the president’s Feb. 1, 2024 Executive Order 14115, which targets Israelis accused of undermining “the foreign policy objectives of the United States.” Per the U.S. Department of State and in accordance with the E.O., “All property and interests in property of the designated persons described that are in the United States or in possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to the Depar...
(JNS) - Family members of those who have been held captive in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, told a gathering of largely American Jews on Monday that "the most Jewish thing you can do" is speak out on the need for a hostage deal. With the U.S. presidential election in the rearview mirror and a new government readying to take over, "we need to hear from all sides that this is really important for the Jewish community now," said Orna Neutra,...
(JNS) — In a video message on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the Iranian people to imagine how much better life would be without the ayatollahs, warning also that the “tyrants of Iran” were putting their families in danger. “I want you to imagine—just imagine—how your life could be different if Iran was free,” said the Israeli premier. “You could speak your mind without fear. You could make a joke without wondering if you’d be carted off to Evin prison.” He underscored how the fanatical Iranian regime spends vast...
(JNS) — Israeli authorities on Tuesday warned Israeli nationals in Thailand to remain alert and avoid public Jewish gatherings and events, citing new information regarding possible attacks. The warning follows reports of plans to attack Israelis at a full-moon party on Nov. 15 in Ko Pha Ngan, an island south of Bangkok, Channel 12 reported. The island is a popular travel destination for Israelis. Thai and Israeli security officials have thwarted several attempted attacks already, according to a statement issued on Tuesday by the Prime M...
(JNS) — “She’d rather sleep anywhere else than inside a bomb shelter, because that’s where she was kidnapped from. That’s where Hamas burst in and took her and Hila,” Tom Hand, the father of former captive Emily Hand, told JNS on Thursday. On Oct. 7, 2023, Emily Hand was sleeping over at her friend Hila Rotem Shoshani’s house in Kibbutz Be’eri, five miles from the Gaza Strip, when Hamas launched its assault, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 hostages including 40 children, among...
(JNS) — An Israeli low-cost airline is planning to launch flights between Israel and New York this winter, ending the wartime monopoly on the popular route by Israel’s flagship carrier El Al, the Israeli Ministry of Transportation said on Wednesday. The move, which envisions four weekly flights on Israir from Tel Aviv to Newark Liberty International Airport, comes at a time when flights on U.S. carriers to and from Tel Aviv remain suspended due to the security situation, and as El Al is facing an investigation for price gouging on tickets due...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated at about 4:30 a.m. local time that he was dispatching two rescue planes to Amsterdam following a “serious incident of violence against Israeli citizens.” “The prime minister takes the horrific event very seriously and demands that the Dutch government and the Dutch security forces act firmly and quickly against the rioters and ensure the peace of our citizens,” Netanyahu’s office stated, in Hebrew. Earlier in the day, Maccabi Tel Aviv lost 5-0 to Ajax Amsterdam in a Europa League socc...
(JNS) — El Al flew about 2,000 passengers to Ben Gurion-Airport over the weekend on eight emergency flights from Amsterdam, the Jewish state’s flag carrier said, following a coordinated assault on Israelis there on Thursday night. Most of the emergency flights left on Friday and two flew on Saturday with special permission from the chief rabbis of Israel, who determined that the circumstances justified this violation of observing the Shabbat. “All passengers have boarded the flights free of ch...
(JNS) — The dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday led to a battle of narratives as the Prime Minister’s Office said Gallant was fired over disagreements connected to the war’s conduct while the opposition tried to frame the move as petty politics. Four opposition leaders held a joint press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem on Wednesday, accusing Netanyahu of dismissing Gallant in order to pass a “draft-dodger bill” needed to placate h...
By Josh Hasten (JNS) - Standing on the roof of her apartment building on the eastern tip of the central Israeli town of Rosh HaAyin, just meters away from the security barrier, Moriah Tzafar shares a grave concern. "We see [Palestinian Authority] cars driving around, getting closer to us. What are they doing here? The area is a closed military firing zone [Zone 203]. We see them carrying out tours of the fence line. There are cars, people, illegal housing, and they're getting closer. We report...
