Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) — On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision prohibiting government from excluding religion and religious institutions from government funding programs. This decision in Carson v. Makin follows on the heels of two other high court decisions in the last five years emphasizing that such exclusions constitute religious discrimination prohibited under the First Amendment. But what makes this decision important is its rejection of the so-called “status-use” distinction: government may not discriminate based on the mere relig...
From the American Jewish Committee, a global Jewish advocacy organization A new website that claims to show the ties between various Massachusetts institutions and “support for the colonization of Palestine” has raised alarms over its dangerous targeting of the Jewish community. The map, published earlier this month by anonymous supporters of the BDS movement, is being promoted by anti-Israel groups such as Boston BDS and the left-wing nonprofit Massachusetts Peace Action. It claims to illustrate organizations and institutions in Mas...
(JTA) — Just under half of all Democratic senators are seeking the “direct involvement” of the United States in the investigation of the death of a Palestinian journalist who was shot over a month ago while covering an Israeli raid on a West Bank refugee camp. Twenty-four senators signed a letter sent to President Biden Thursday, three weeks prior to his first scheduled state visit to Israel. It is the largest action yet from U.S. lawmakers seeking an independent resolution to the May 11 killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh...
(New York Jewish Week) — Seeking the endorsement of Borough Park Orthodox leaders in his run for Congress, former mayor Bill de Blasio apologized for a 2020 tweet berating Jews for large gatherings held during the pandemic. In a video of Sunday’s meeting, called by an activist of the Bobov Hasidic movement, de Blasio is seen being asked about the tweet. In the tweet, he blasted “the Jewish community” following the packed funeral for a rabbi who died of COVID-19, and said the NYPD had been instructed to “summons or even arrest those who gathe...
Eli Rosenbaum to head DOJ team investigating war crimes in Ukraine By Madeline Fixler (JTA) — Eli Rosenbaum, a Justice Department veteran known for his work tracking and deporting former Nazis residing in the United States, will lead a team working to identify and prosecute people responsible for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment in a statement on Tuesday, while in Ukraine. “There is no hiding place for war criminals. The U.S. Justice Department will pursue every avenue of acc...
(JNS) — U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Israel on July 13. Analysts tell JNS that among the key topics to be discussed will be the Iran threat; a security alliance between Israel and Gulf states; the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem; the poor health of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas; Russia-Syria-Ukraine; and a new global “I2U2” coalition involving India. The Iranian threat Negotiations for a new nuclear deal with Iran have been on the ropes since April when the Islamic Republic said it would not return to talks in Vienna...
(JNS) — There was little time for a period of transition for Julie Platt. But with her experience, there was little need for one. Announced in February as the incoming chair of the Jewish Federations of North America Board of Trustees, Platt was unanimously confirmed for the role. Only the second woman to lead the organization, Platt is a former banker who has focused on promoting Jewish education and helping to rescue the Jewish camp movement during the pandemic. Platt served as JFNA’s national campaign chair and chair of LiveSecure, the org...
(JNS) - The Stuttgart Administrative Court recently ruled that calls to single out the Jewish state for boycott, divestment and sanctions do not violate Germany's laws against hate speech and are protected, sparking outrage from critics that the decision turns anti-Semitism into a socially and politically correct view. "It is probably the first time in the history of the Federal Republic that a court has expressly declared 'anti-Semitic views' to be a legally protected area of 'freedom of opin...
(New York Jewish Week) - At the Brooklyn Amity School, a majority-Muslim private school in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, high school students are taking part in a new Holocaust education initiative with an unlikely ambassador: NBA center and free agent Enes Kanter Freedom. Kanter Freedom, who is Muslim, grew up in Turkey and played for five different NBA teams between 2011 and 2022. Over the last couple of years, he has become outspoken about human rights violations in Turkey and other parts of the...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid have agreed to disband the current Knesset and head to new elections. A preliminary bill will tentatively be brought during the upcoming parliamentary session on June 27. If the motion to disband passes, it will be brought into the parliamentary committee and get sent back to the Knesset, where it will need to pass three formal readings. If the Knesset officially votes to disband, Lapid, who currently serves as foreign minister, will become a transitional p...
(New York Jewish Week) - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke about the success of the Jewish community in the Sunshine State and the need to fight "wokeness" in an address to a conservative Jewish group in New York City. "They can't cancel me," the Republican governor began his speech, delivered before an audience of approximately 700 at the Tikvah Fund's Jewish Leadership Conference, held at Chelsea Piers. "I'm gonna speak my mind. When the left is having a spasm, that just tells you that in...
Megan Steinmetz, Congregatio of Reform Judaism president announces that Bari Sigal has been selected as CRJ’s new director of Programing and Member Engagement. Sigal will take the lead on creating and distributing marketing and promotional material to the congregation and surrounding community, oversee the temple calendar, and work closely with the B’nai Mitzvah families in preparation for their celebrations. Segal graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in Jewish Studies and min...
In May and June of 2022, Judy Kahan led a weekly grief support group for Jewish people who had experienced a loss. The sessions were held at Cascade Heights in Longwood. Another grief support group will resume in the fall. It is best practice to wait about six months after a death to participate in a group because the group may be too raw. Myrna Ossin commented on the experience. "Judy Kahan did a great job in leading the sessions. She gave everyone a chance to talk and provide some worthwhile...
(JNS) — Heads of major Jewish organizations, led by the Jewish Agency for Israel, delivered a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett calling on the Israeli government to designate those killed in anti-Semitic incidents outside of Israel as official victims of terror. The letter urges the prime minister to commemorate these victims in state ceremonies, as they are an “integral part of national memory.” The request follows an initial appeal by Yaakov Hagoel, the Jewish Agency’s acting chairman of the executive and chairman of the Wor...
(JNS) — Yeshiva University in New York is the latest academic institution to acquire the unabridged version of the Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive, a collection of audiovisual interviews comprising 54,000 eyewitness testimonies of witnesses and survivors of the Holocaust, as well as genocides in Nanjing, Rwanda, Armenia, Guatemala and Cambodia. The archive was established by film director Steven Spielberg in 1994 to videotape and preserve interviews with survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust. It allows users to learn about the...
SARASOTA, Fla. (JTA) — A synagogue in Florida filed a lawsuit this week to challenge the state over a new law prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks. Under current law, Florida allows abortions up to 24 weeks. Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor of Boynton Beach claims the new law, which has been signed by Republican Governor Ron De Santis and is set to take effect on July 1, violates the religious freedom rights of Jews. The lawsuit, which was filed Friday in Leon County Circuit Court, claims that the act “prohibits Jewish women from practicing their...
(JTA) – David Brog has overseen pro-Israel organizations with significant Republican backing for more than two decades, but his own attempt to make inroads for himself as a GOP candidate fell short Tuesday in Nevada. Brog lost his Republican Congressional primary race in the state’s 1st district to former Army colonel Mark Robertson, in a spirited eight-way race to represent the GOP in what’s likely to be a competitive general election for the recently redrawn Las Vegas-area district. Brog finished with just over 17 percent of the vote, a dis...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — After returning to full operations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport is having difficulty coping with heavy passenger traffic as the summer travel season gets underway. Even though the airport has reopened Terminal 1 and airport director Shmuel Zakai is on the floor himself helping conduct security checks, the lines remain long. Zakai has said that the airport is having difficulty recruiting new staff and is facing a shortage of some 1,000 workers. Zakai said he expects it...
The Jewish Pavilion held its most recent cocktail party at Land Rover Orlando. A wonderful time was had with great food, great drinks, a little bit of dancing and being able to socialize with friends old and new. Carina Borkon and Jason Mendelsohn organized the event. Their tireless effort to help raise money for the Jewish Pavilion was inspiring. Overall approximately 150 people came to the event and enjoyed the evening. The Pavilion raised around $3,000, and donations are still being...
(JNS) — Researchers at Tel Aviv University have published encouraging test results of a procedure that could lead to a one-time treatment for patients with HIV. The study was led by Adi Barzel, Ph.D., and Ph.D. student Alessio Nehmad of the school of neurobiology, biochemistry and biophysics at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and the Dotan Center for Advanced Therapies, in collaboration with Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center, and additional researchers in Israel and the United States. The treatment involves the use of the CRI...
(JNS) — While an official U.N. Commission of Inquiry seeks Israel’s diplomatic isolation, 21 nations came out in support of the Jewish state on Monday, expressing concern about the commission’s uncommonly broad mandate and the U.N. Human Rights Council’s irregular targeting of Israel. In Geneva, the three members of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry—all of whom have a history of anti-Israel activity and rhetoric—addressed the Human Rights Council and the press in the wake of their first report released last week. On Tuesday, commission...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Joe Biden will visit Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia next month in a visit that will emphasize reestablishing U.S. ties with the Palestinians. The Biden administration on Tuesday morning posted the dates for Biden’s Middle East tour, July 13 to 16, after weeks of reporting that such a trip would take place this summer. The visit to Saudi Arabia will include attending a summit of the “GCC+3,” a body that brings together the Gulf Cooperation Council, the umbrella for Gulf Arab states, plus Egypt, Iraq and Jorda...
Israel urges citizens not to travel to Istanbul citing Iranian terrorist threat By Ron Kampeas (JTA) — Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid urged Israelis not to travel to Istanbul, saying that Israeli and Turkish authorities have recently thwarted Iranian-backed terrorist attacks. “In recent weeks, Israeli security services, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Prime Minister’s Office have put tremendous effort into saving Israeli lives, some of whom have returned to Israel and are walking among us without knowing their lives were saved...
(JNS) — The Stuttgart Administrative Court recently ruled that calls to single out the Jewish state for boycott, divestment and sanctions do not violate Germany’s laws against hate speech and are protected, sparking outrage from critics that the decision turns anti-Semitism into a socially and politically correct view. “It is probably the first time in the history of the Federal Republic that a court has expressly declared ‘anti-Semitic views’ to be a legally protected area of ‘freedom of opinion,’” Henryk M. Broder, a leading expert on G...
Ben & Jerry's is requiring all new employees to watch four videos about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, all of which appear to be biased against the Jewish state, the Jewish Insider reported. The videos are part of the company's "Scooper Series: Social Mission" concerning the conflict as well as racism in the U.S., an employee told the Jewish Insider. Featured in one of the videos is anti-Israel activist Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch's Israel and Palestine director. Shakir, a BDS promoter,...
