Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) - When Michael Smuss died last month at 99, an era of Jewish history came to a close. Smuss was the last known resistance fighter during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, when Jews rose up against their Nazi persecutors in one of the most dramatic episodes of the Holocaust. Smuss was not the only prominent survivor to die in recent weeks. A number of survivors, several centenarians, have died in a wave that underscores the rapid disappearance of anyone alive with robust memories of the...
Just hours after New York City’s mayor election was called for Zohran Mamdani, a top Israeli official issued an invitation. “New York will never be the same again, especially not for its Jewish community,” Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli tweeted. “I invite the Jews of New York to seriously consider making their new home in the Land of Israel.” Chikli’s call dovetailed with another appeal to Jewish New Yorkers made by a spokesman for the Jewish settlement in Hebron, Yishai Fleisher. “Indeed, it was a great run, and you were a blessing to N...
Last year, Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall held its 10th anniversary of a Chanukah concert series that was rebooted 70 years after it was halted by the Nazis, in what some Dutch Jews saw as a repudiation of antisemitism that had swelled during the war in Gaza. This year, the concert has been called off — and the prestigious concert hall citing the chosen singer’s ties to the Israeli army. The Chanukah Concert Foundation, which organizes the event, had booked Shai Abramson to sing. Abramson is a retired lieutenant colonel for the IDF who serve...
When Israeli pop star Yoni Bloch created a music video in January depicting scenes of the Israeli hostages returning through the use of artificial intelligence, it was meant as a hopeful fantasy. At the time, Bloch's song, "Sof Tov" or "A Happy Ending," went viral in Israel for offering optimism for the release of the nearly 100 hostages still held in Gaza. It also envisioned peace in the region accompanying the end of the war in Gaza. Now, nine months later, after the remaining 20 living...
(JTA) - When Rita Zohar stepped into the role of Bessie Stern, a Holocaust survivor whose death sets in motion Scarlett Johansson's new film "Eleanor the Great," she wasn't simply acting. Zohar, 81, is a childhood survivor of the Holocaust. She was also drawing on her lived experience of loss and resilience to bring life to her character. "This role in this movie has given me a voice," Zohar told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. "Even though this is not my story, this is not what happened to me...
In one of her last interviews, renowned British primatologist Jane Goodall said that she wanted to send Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with several other world leaders she disliked, on a one-way trip to space. “There are people I don’t like. And I would like to put them on one of [Elon] Musk’s spaceships and send them all off to the planet he’s sure he’s going to discover,” Goodall said on Netflix’s “Famous Last Words: Dr. Jane Goodall,” which was filmed earlier this year and premiered following her death last week at 91....
(JTA) — French President Emmanuel Macron formally announced his country’s recognition of Palestinian statehood on Monday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. “True to the historic commitment of my country to the Middle East, to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, this is why I declare that today, France recognizes the state of Palestine,” Macron said, receiving a loud applause from the more than 140 leaders in attendance. During his announcement, Macron also outlined his vision for a “renewed Palestini...
The Library of Congress has awarded Geraldine Brooks, a Jewish author whose best-selling novels are often inspired by Jewish history, its prestigious 2025 Prize for American Fiction. Brooks, a former foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novel "March," which reimagines "Little Women" from the father's perspective, in 2006. Her bestselling novels also often focus on aspects of Jewish history, including "People of the Book," which chronicles...
A Democratic National Committee panel blocked a resolution Tuesday that would have called for a suspension of military aid to Israel and recognition of Palestinian statehood, after a debate underscoring growing fissures within the party over its longstanding support of Israel. The resolution, which was proposed by Allison Minnerly, a new Gen Z member from Florida, would have joined the growing chorus of calls in the House and Senate in recent weeks to block weapons sales to Israel. Following debate over the resolution Tuesday morning at the...
The United States Postal Service announced a new series of stamps honoring Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Wiesel, who died in 2016 at the age of 87, is the 18th person to be honored in the USPS' Distinguished Americans stamp series. "The 18th stamp in the Distinguished Americans series honors humanitarian Elie Wiesel (1928-2016), a survivor of Nazi concentration camps whose dozens of works bore witness to the Holocaust and whose resilience and compassion continue...
The Reform movement’s Washington-based advocacy arm is urging Attorney General Pam Bondi not to seek the death penalty for the man accused of killing two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., in May. Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, called on Bondi to forgo the death penalty in the trial of Elias Rodriguez in a letter sent Wednesday. “Despite the pain of Sarah and Yaron’s murders and despite the hateful motivation behind their deaths, we believe that the death penalty is a stain...
President Donald Trump said Monday morning that the remaining hostages in Gaza will only be returned when Hamas is “confronted and destroyed.” “We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” wrote Trump in a post on Truth Social. Trump’s latest comments appeared to support a recent plan approved by Israel’s security cabinet to take over Gaza City, a move reportedly opposed by the IDF over concerns it could endanger the remai...
Israel has approved a long-delayed settlement project that would build 3,400 housing units for Jews in Judea and Samaria, in a move that both its backers and its many critics say would undercut Palestinian ambitions to control the region. The E1 project would expand Jewish settlements on a stretch of land east of Jerusalem, effectively bisecting Judea and Samaria and limiting Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem from growing, Proposed decades ago, but never finalized, the plan was abruptly moved forward this month by Israel’s far-right f...
A record number of Senate Democrats, representing a majority of the caucus, voted in favor Wednesday of two resolutions blocking U.S. military sales to Israel. The vote tally, including several senators who had not previously voted against such aid, underscores an apparent decline in support for Israel within the party. The vote comes as Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, and amid a humanitarian crisis in the enclave that is drawing widespread condemnation. The resolutions were sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Jewish Vermont I...
President Donald Trump called for Hamas to “surrender” in a post on Truth Social Thursday morning, a day before his Middle East envoy visited Gaza and praised humanitarian efforts there. “The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!,” wrote Trump in the post. The president’s post came days after he lamented “real starvation” in Gaza and as a new report, in The Atlantic, suggested that he was growing increasingly frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s u...
While the majority of Americans oppose antisemitism, a quarter believe that the recent string of attacks on Jews in the United States were “understandable,” according to a new report released by the Anti-Defamation League on Friday. The report comes in the wake of three recent attacks on Jewish targets by people claiming to act on behalf of the Palestinians: the arson attack on Jewish Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s house in April, the deadly shooting of two Israeli embassy workers in Washington D.C. in May and the firebombing attack on a gro...
After his beloved and extremely Jewish sitcom "Curb Your Enthusiasm" ended after 12 seasons last year, many fans undoubtedly had the same thought: Would this be the last of Larry David on TV? The notorious curmudgeon's answer: Absolutely not. On Thursday, David announced that he will be partnering with Barack and Michelle Obama's production company to create a six-episode sketch comedy series about American history. The 78-year-old David will star in, co-write and executive produce the new...
The number of antisemitic assaults and acts of vandalism on college campuses fell sharply in the last school year, according to Hillel International. And the pro-Palestinian encampments that ignited fear among many Jewish college students in early 2024 effectively disappeared in the year since, with just nine encampments taking place in the last school year, the Jewish campus group said in its annual tally of antisemitic incidents, released Thursday, July 17. But Hillel International said antisemitic incidents were still on the rise on college...
Eric S. Goldstein, who has served as CEO of UJA-Federation of New York for 11 years, will step down next summer as the head of North America’s largest and most influential Jewish federation. In a statement Tuesday announcing his departure, Goldstein reflected on a tenure marked by several communal crises, bracketed by two wars in Gaza and including the COVID pandemic. “I remember well my plans for that first summer of 2014. I expected to learn the ropes and ease into the job. History, tragically, had other plans. On June 30, 2014, the bod...
As one of the largest Jewish camp operators in the United States, NJY Camps was expecting to host over 100 Israeli counselors this summer. Now, over half of them are stranded in Israel after the surprise onset of a war with Iran has ground air travel to a total halt. “Some of them were supposed to be here today. They will not be here today, and who knows when they will be here,” said Michael Schlank, CEO of the network of day and overnight camps in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. At Jewish camps in the United States, hosting Israelis as cou...
Israel was the first target of retaliatory attacks by Iran after Israel launched a massive military campaign against its nuclear program on Friday. But security officials are warning that Israelis and Jews abroad could also face consequences from the beleaguered regime. Iran has a long track record of sowing violence against Jewish and Israeli targets abroad, including over the last two years as its proxies in the Middle East have battled Israel on the ground. Among the many examples: Swedish teens who tried to attack the Israeli embassy in...
Just minutes after Shabbat began in Israel, sirens sounded, sending Israelis back to their shelters to await the next salvo in their country's new war with Iran. Roughly 100 missiles were on their way from Iran, officials warned, teeing up a repeat of an April 2024 attack that marked the first direct exchange of fire between the two countries. Soon, projectiles fell across the country's center, injuring dozens of people. Less than 24 hours had passed since Israel launched a dramatic and...
The morning after a shooter killed two Israeli embassy aides at a Jewish event in Washington, D.C., incendiary rapper Ye took to X with an unexpected message: “I am done with antisemitism.” Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has become well known for antisemitic rants and provocations, including a song he debuted earlier this month titled “Heil Hitler.” In February, Ye doubled down on his antisemitic sentiments, declaring in a post on X, “I’m never apologizing for my Jewish comments.” But in a string of posts Thursday morning after the dea...
Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael, the Jewish National Fund, will be allocating $100,000 to support New York City's Israel parade for the first time. The annual parade, known as Israel Day on Fifth, took place on Sunday, May 18, with the theme "Hatikvah," the name of Israel's national anthem, which means "the hope." KKL-JNF billed it as the "largest global gathering in support of Israel." The allocation by KKL-JNF underscores an effort to strengthen bonds between Israeli and American Jews, the group...
(JTA) — The Irish rap group Kneecap denounced Hamas and Hezbollah after Micheál Martin, the Irish prime minister, called on them to “urgently clarify” their stances. The group is from Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom, and U.K. police have also announced that they are investigating the group. Martin’s call and the investigation come after the group ignited criticism and scrutiny with its anti-Israel performance at the U.S. festival Coachella earlier this month. Critics of the performance, which included a projecti...
