Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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WASHINGTON (JTA)—Enforce the Iran deal. Violate the Iran deal. Leave it to Congress. Do nothing. President-elect Donald Trump has an array of options before him when he assumes the presidency on Jan. 21, according to supporters and opponents of the deal. Reached last year between Iran and six major powers led by the United States, the agreement rolled back Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. The open question—as are so many questions about Trump’s intentions—is what does the next leader of the free world want to do? His p... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Offer an open hand or a closed fist-or maybe both. Name names. Don't name names, hint. Quietly adjust wording. Welcome to the second week of the World of Trump, Jewish organizational edition. Week 1 was fraught enough, with Jewish statements marking Donald Trump's surprise election ranging from the confrontational to "it's a new day" accommodation. Then President-elect Trump named Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist. The appointment of Bannon, formerly the CEO of Breitbart, the right-wing news site that has been the clearing... Full story
(JTA)-Leonard Cohen, the Canadian singer-songwriter whose Jewish-infused work became a soundtrack for melancholy, has died. He was 82. "It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist Leonard Cohen has passed away," his Facebook page said late Thursday. "We have lost one of music's most revered and prolific visionaries." It did not give a cause of death but said there would be a funeral in Los Angeles in coming days. Cohen, a Montreal native born in 1934, was playing folk guitar by the time he was 15, when he... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The top official of the Republican Jewish Coalition said the Anti-Defamation League had potentially compromised itself with its criticism of President-elect Donald Trump's words and actions during the campaign. The attack by the RJC on the venerated Jewish civil rights group-and an implied warning of more to come-signaled fraught times ahead for the more liberal precincts of the American Jewish community as they seek to establish ties with the nascent Trump administration. Until now the RJC had not singled out the ADL, or any... Full story
(JTA)-Hillary Clinton has been reticent about making Iran a major issue throughout the campaign: It's a hard straddle for her between her skepticism of the nuclear deal reached last year and honoring the legacy of President Barack Obama. (Her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., was a prominent backer of the deal, and in a rare tonal differentiation from Clinton, has emphasized the deal as a win.) Yet she was the first to mention Iran in the final debate on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus. It was one of several cudgels she used to... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—While the Iran nuclear deal gets fleeting attention in the presidential race, it is shaping up as a key issue in at least nine states integral to Democrats’ hopes of regaining control of the U.S. Senate. Rival pro-Israel factions are pouring money into many of those races, and candidates are using support or opposition to the controversial deal as a means of tarring their opponents. And depending on what happens in November, the election could redefine what it means to be “pro-Israel.” Democrats are seeking four to five wi... Full story
(JTA)-Seven times during the vice presidential debate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said the deal his running mate, Hillary Clinton, worked on had helped "stop Iranian nuclear weapons." Seven times, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said no, it did not. Twice, Kaine said Israel's military "says it stopped." Both times Pence, the running mate to Republican nominee Donald Trump, disagreed. Who's right? It's a mixed bag. The jury is still out on whether the deal has stopped Iran's suspected nuclear weapons quest in the long term. As Kaine noted, Israel's... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-When President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met for what was likely to be the last time as leaders of their countries, the most important thing they said was "see you soon." Netanyahu's invitation to Obama to visit Israel post-presidency augured a thaw in U.S.-Israel relations, which was also seen in remarks by Israel's diplomatic corps and signals from the pro-Israel lobby. Their friendly, relaxed interaction was in marked contrast to meetings like the one in 2011, when after Obama called for talks based... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-President Barack Obama's near parting gift to Israel, a guarantee of $38 billion in defense assistance over a decade, distills into a single document what he's been saying throughout eight fraught years: I have your back, but on my terms. The agreement signed Wednesday in the State Department's Treaty Room here increases assistance for Israel over the prior Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2007 under the George W. Bush administration and guaranteeing Israel $31 billion over 10 years. But it also substantially shrinks the... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-A Florida state senator caught up in a boycott-Israel controversy. A Wisconsin state representative who combated anti-Israel bias on his campus. The diversity of Israel-related outlooks among the 63 candidates endorsed by Our Revolution underscores the eclecticism of the left-leaning movement launched by Bernie Sanders. The endorsed candidates represent an opening salvo by Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont to build on the progressive following he earned in his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Hillary Clinton is a chameleon, her critics say, ready to adopt the colors of her environment: dove, hawk, social conservative, social justice warrior, friend, backstabber. Hillary Clinton is a Rorschach test, her supporters say, a projection of her haters' deepest fears and insecurities: the strong woman distorted into a witch, the progressive distorted into a radical, the pragmatist distorted into an empty vessel. Hillary Clinton, in her first autobiography, "Living History," embraces another label: "policy maker," one she... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-If Hillary Clinton is indeed courting Henry Kissinger, what happens to her relationship with Bernie Sanders? Reports that the Democratic presidential nominee is actively pursuing endorsements from Kissinger, who like her is a former secretary of state, and other former Republican officials have raised alarms on the left. It also has provided an opportunity for Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, who has lumped his Republican critics with Clinton as part of an elite that has led the United States into disastrous wars. The... Full story
PHILADELPHIA (JTA)-Amanda Renteria, the national political director for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, was running through the campaign's messages for minorities and women: immigration for Hispanics, land use for Native Americans, various policies for defending children and women. She didn't mention Jews in her briefing Tuesday morning for specialty media, and there's a reason for that: There wasn't a Clinton issue that was unique to the Jews. When I asked her to mention some, Renteria looked to Sarah Bard, who directs Jewish... Full story
PHILADELPHIA (JTA)-When Debbie Wasserman Schultz spoke to the Florida delegation as the national Democratic convention got underway, some delegates cheered. Other delegates booed. The chaos at the Marriott Hotel here demonstrated the degree to which the Florida congresswoman, perhaps the party's most prominent Jewish leader, had become a divisive figure since she emerged a decade ago as the tyro no one in the party could praise enough. Wasserman Schultz, 49, was forced over the weekend to step down as the chairwoman of the Democratic National... Full story
CLEVELAND (JTA)-Wednesday night's gripping tale of a dramatic, sudden repudiation of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz by Sheldon Adelson, the major pro-Israel philanthropist and Republican donor, seems a little less consequential in the light of Thursday morning, according to folks who are close with Adelson and his wife, Miriam. There is no rift, they say, only a cooling off until after Nov. 8, Election Day. Until then, the Adelsons are invested in Donald Trump, while Cruz remains a darling of the pro-Israel right. Reports Wednesday night said Cruz had... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-They're elusive, but show up in the right place at the right time-and you might find one! No, we're not talking about the latest iteration of Pokemon Go. This is about tracking prominent Jewish GOPers and Jewish organizational representatives attending the Republican National Convention next week in Cleveland. They'll be barely visible, and the reason has everything to do with the presumptive nominee, Donald Trump. The Republican Jewish Coalition usually rolls out major shebangs at party conventions, starting with a news co... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg launched a broadside against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump over the last week, calling him unfit for office. She subsequently apologized, but not before voices on the right and left criticized her for seeming to compromise the high court's dignity and objectivity. "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg needs to drop the political punditry and the name-calling," The New York Times editorial board said. The Washington Post agreed. Even her most ardent fans were at a loss to... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The conventional wisdom has it that earning the sobriquet "the most right-wing government in Israeli history" does not lead to diplomatic successes. In recent weeks, on the Turkish, Egyptian and African fronts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is proving the conventional wisdom wrong. How is it that the head of a government beating a hasty retreat from the two-state solution scored a triumphant tour of Africa, hosted a convivial summit with an Egyptian foreign minister for the first time in nearly a decade and renewed full... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-"I am proud to be a Vlach," says Yiannis Boutaris, the mayor of Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Ostensibly, we're here at the Washington Hilton to discuss Boutaris' bid to put the Jewish back in Thessaloniki, a city-perhaps best known as Salonika-once home to the largest numbers of Jews in Greece. But I'm the one who brought up the Vlachs, a dwindling minority of speakers of an ancient Latin dialect, scattered throughout the Balkans. When he ambles over, I greet him with the "Ci fac?" I have learned from my wife's f... Full story
(JTA)-Dirty, hot and exhausted Israeli soldiers waiting for their bus home from the army base tend, understandably, to be in a hurry to get on board. But when I was living in Israel during the first intifada, or Palestinian uprising, soldiers didn't jostle to be first in line. Rather, the most coveted position was second. That's because the bus driver had the right-under rules issued by the army and made clear to each armed soldier before she or he left the base-to order any soldier to sit in the front seat and remain alert. And the first one... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-An exhibit over 20 years old against an iPhone: Docents at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum are increasingly noting the battle with hand-held devices to keep the interest of young people. Now a $20 million gift to help revitalize the Washington, D.C., museum will aim to assist the docents while focusing on the challenges posed to democracies by rapid changes in technology. Allan and Shelley Holt announced their grant for the Washington, D.C., museum on Monday, June 13, in honor of Allan Holt's parents, who are Holocaust... Full story
(JTA)-Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, The Associated Press reported Monday. With more super delegates telling the AP they're committed to her, Clinton now has the votes she needs to win the nomination. But that's not the end for Bernie Sanders, by far the most successful Jewish presidential candidate in American history. The Independent Vermont senator is defiant and says he's taking the fight to the Democratic National Convention. He's said he'll try to flip the super delegates, party officials who are free... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-In a rare and sharp split with Israeli government policy, a group of Jewish community leaders want to get a proposal for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the next president's desk. Two complementary U.S. and Israeli working papers to be launched next week propose immediate actions Israel can take to prepare the ground for two states and a longer-term security structure that aims to satisfy Palestinian ambitions for sovereignty and Israeli security needs. Elements of the proposals, including relocating... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Yes, there’s the Avigdor Liberman who wants to behead bad guys, mandate loyalty oaths and pay Arabs to leave the country—the one who makes fun of the disabled and who dodged a fraud charge. But Israel’s onetime foreign minister and maybe-next defense minister is not quite the cartoon he’s made out to be—OK, the cartoon he at times seems determined to make himself out to be. As defense minister, Liberman would double to two the Cabinet ministers who have seriously considered a two-state outcome: himself and Prime Minister Be... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The Democratic Party platform drafting committee is top heavy with veterans of political battles over Israel-some friendly, some critical, and including at least one major backer of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. The Democratic National Committee named the committee May 23, a day after reports emerged that Bernie Sanders, an Independent senator from Vermont running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, wants the platform to elevate the issue of Palestinian rights. The names signal that the robust... Full story
