Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2501 - 2525 of 10707
(JNS) — The heavily Jewish town of Surfside, Florida, passed a resolution last week establishing a twin city relationship with the Samaria Regional Council. Passed by a 5-0 margin, the partnership encompasses some three dozen Jewish communities and will honor Samaria Regional Council Chairman Yossi Dagan with a ceremonial key to the town. Surfside’s first Orthodox Jewish mayor, Shlomo Danzinger, told JNS the move was motivated in part by a desire to thank Israel for its help in the search and rescue operation at the site of the collapse las...
(JNS) — Between 2017 and 2022, 92.82 percent of the articles in leading U.S. college newspapers that strayed from journalistic objectivity were anti-Israel, according to a report from Alums for Campus Fairness. ACF surveyed 75 leading college and university newspapers. Of all the articles about Israel exhibiting a bias, 181 were biased against Israel and 14 portrayed it positively. Coverage spiked during periods of tension between Israel and Hamas, including in November 2018, May 2019, November 2019 and May 2021. There is an intense fixation o...
(JTA) — Couscous lovers who frequent the grocery store Trader Joe’s may have noticed a change in the grain aisle: The chain’s brightly colored purple boxes of “Israeli Couscous” are now simply known as “Pearl Couscous.” The Nosher, a sister website to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, first reported the label change after word of it spread on the popular Facebook group Kosher Trader Joe’s. The move raised questions in the group about whether Trader Joe’s was trying to distance itself from Israel, a move that some companies have made for politica...
WASHINGTON (JTA) - The Biden administration is still hoping to close a deal between Israel and Lebanon on a maritime border. Still, Israel is citing the deal's apparent collapse to prepare for tensions on its northern border. "Special Presidential Coordinator Amos Hochstein continues his robust engagement to bring the maritime boundary discussions to a close," a National Security Council spokeswoman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. "We remain in close communication with the Israelis and...
New UK Prime Minister Liz Truss pledged "wholehearted" support for the Jewish State during a speech at the Conservative Friends of Israel conference on Monday. "I am so pleased to be here for the first time at the CFI event as your prime minister," Truss was quoted as saying by the Jewish Chronicle. "As you know I am a huge Zionist, I am a huge supporter of Israel, and I know that we can take the UK-Israel relationship from strength to strength." "In this world - where we are facing threats...
(JTA) – It seemed like a headline out of the 19th century: a warning of “Jew-free zones” at the University of California-Berkeley. That’s the phrase being employed by some prominent pro-Israel groups this week to describe a dispute at UC Berkeley’s law school, where nine student groups recently voted to adopt by-laws that state they will not invite any visiting speakers to campus who “hold views in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine.” But is the “Jew-free” label accurate? Not according to Jewi...
White House ‘alarmed’ by Iran crackdown, still committed to nuke deal (JNS) — The Biden administration is “alarmed” by the Iranian regime’s ongoing deadly crackdown on demonstrators across the country but is still committed to forging a nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday. “So, we’re alarmed and appalled by reports of security authorities responding to university students’ peaceful protests with violence and mass arrests,” she said, adding that these “crackdowns are pre...
(JTA) — October is a busy month for U.S. sports fans. The MLB playoffs get underway, the NBA season begins, the NFL season kicks into high gear and both the women’s and men’s pro soccer leagues start their postseasons, too. Sometimes another milestone gets hidden under the headlines of it all: the start of the NHL season. The first puck drops on Friday, ironically in Prague, in a match between the Nashville Predators and the San Jose Sharks. (The first stateside games start on Tuesday night.) Another phenomenon that hasn’t been widely covered...
(JTA) – Three Jewish women have sued to protest Kentucky’s restrictive abortion laws on religious freedom grounds, arguing that they violate Jewish teachings as to when life begins and place undue burdens on their ability to use in vitro fertilization to achieve pregnancy. The suit is at least the third religious freedom lawsuit to be filed by Jews against a state abortion restriction since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this summer. It follows a synagogue’s challenge to Florida’s laws and a Jewish pro-choice group’s lawsuit i...
In December 1968 an open house was held to dedicate the new Kinneret Apartments for low-income elderly people. The developing process began in 1960 when the Central Florida Jewish Community Council president, Flossie Gluckman, learned from Ernie Rapp about a program offered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A Jewish senior housing council was formed. Abe Wise found two acres of land on Lake Lucerne. The founders likened it to the Sea of Galilee and named the future apartme...
(JNS) - As the ongoing protests in Iran reached their two-week mark on Friday, the death toll has reportedly exceeded 80 people. Iranians have been protesting against the regime since the Sept. 16 killing of Mahsa Amini, 22, who was arrested for "unsuitable attire" by the Islamic Republic's "morality police" and then beaten to death. Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based NGO, tweeted that "at least 83 people including children, are confirmed to have been killed in (the) #IranProtests." On Friday,...
JFS Orlando’s Family Stabilization Program is a preventative, six-month case management program. It is designed to help individuals and families obtain self-sufficiency by teaching them critical skills and tools to improve financial management, employability, family stability and mental health functioning, as well as maintain or improve housing. Program participants have special access to several services at no cost, including food assistance, financial education workshops, employability s...
The 2nd Annual Good Ghoul Gala is coming to the Rosen JCC on Saturday Oct. 29 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This event was created by the Miles to Go Charity. This charity helps create custom drawstring bags filled with personal items for the homeless. The bags can include items such as toothbrushes, deodorant, hand sanitizer and clothing items. Proceeds from this event will help support the non-profits Miles to Go and the Rosen JCC This is a fun-filled family Halloween themed event with something for every age group. This is a non-scary gala that is...
(JNS) — The Israeli global crowd-funding venture firm OurCrowd announced this week its launch of a $200 million Global Health Equity Fund. News of the collaboration with the WHO (World Health Organization) Foundation was shared at this year’s Clinton Global Initiative in New York City on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. The fund will focus on healthcare solutions with a potentially global impact. “COVID-19 was a wake-up call for me as an investor,” said Jon Medved, founder and CEO of OurCrowd. “The pandemic opened my...
(JNS) — The City University of New York has reversed course after it assigned a former employee of a vehemently anti-Israel NGO to investigate allegations of anti-Zionist discrimination. The probe came at the request of Prof. Jeffrey Lax, chair of the business department at CUNY’s Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn. He alleged pervasive discrimination and harassment against Zionists and Jews on campus, as well as retaliation and a hostile work environment created by Kingsborough President Claudia Schrader. Lax’s complaint came as Kings...
(JTA) — The holiest day of the Jewish calendar couldn’t come at a worse time for Michigan public schools this year. Yom Kippur falls on Oct. 5 — which is also the state’s “student count day,” the one day a year when the number of students who attend school determines how much that district will receive in state funds the following year. By Michigan law, count day is on the first Wednesday of October, and superintendents typically go to great lengths to entice students to attend. Districts have coaxed students to attend on the days using raffles...
(JTA) — Doreen Alhadeff was the first American Jew granted Spanish citizenship under Spain’s 2015 law to repatriate Sephardic Jews from around the world. Now she is going to be knighted by Spain’s monarchy for helping others obtain that same citizenship. Alhadeff, a 72-year-old real estate agent from Seattle, will be knighted under the order of Queen Isabella the Catholic next month, the Seattle Times reported Monday. Since earning Spanish citizenship in 2016, Alhadeff has helped guide people around the world, from Greece to Hong Kong, through...
(JTA) - The success of Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party in Italy's national election last week means the country is poised to have its most right-wing government since World War II, when Italy was Hitler's staunchest ally in Europe. The prospect has unnerved many Italian Jews, even as several of their leaders appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach to Meloni's leadership, refraining from making public statements about the results. "Faced with the prospect of a prime minister that is...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — It appears that history is about to be made in Italy: Giorgia Meloni, the 45-year-old leader of the national conservative party Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), who has pledged to fight mass immigration and Islamization and has been very critical of the European Union, became the country’s first female prime minister. Speaking with Israel Hayom, Meloni lashes out at those who engage in anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric, which is now a common feature in left-wing circles. Q: Some members of your party come...
By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA) — Democrats on the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted to name as chairman of its influential Middle East subcommittee Rep. David Cicilline, a Jewish Rhode Islander who is a member of the party’s Progressive Caucus. Cicilline bested Brad Schneider, a moderate Jewish Illinois Democrat, in an 18-6 vote. Cicilline and Schneider are both close to the mainstream pro-Israel community and are both endorsed by the American Israel Public Aff...
(JTA) – Progressive Jewish leaders have launched a new think tank meant to counter what its founders see as an effort by a few billionaires to flood the Jewish world with conservative ideas. Emor, the Institute for Bold Jewish Thought, is a project of T'ruah, an advocacy organization of rabbis dedicated to promoting human rights and social justice. In Hebrew, "emor" is a directive meaning "speak." The think tank will fund research, host events with scholars, and publish essays that draw on J...
(JNS) — A son of Holocaust survivors is demanding an apology from Facebook for blocking ads for his newly-released film “Beautiful Blue Eyes.” British filmmaker Joshua Newton said the tech giant’s move hurt his film, which was released in 143 theaters earlier this month. When his ads featuring the late actor Roy Scheider were flagged with a message that they violated Facebook’s policy against content that “includes direct or indirect assertions or implications about a person’s race,” Newton assumed it was an algorithm error. He grew increasing...
Yeshiva University can go through appeals process without changing LGBTQ+ club’s status (JNS) — Putting aside their differences for the time being, Yeshiva University and the YU Pride Alliance have agreed to a stay of judgment in their ongoing court battle, allowing the university to go through the appeals process without making any changes to the status quo on campus. The move is the latest action in the case that pits the university against students who want to have an officially recognized LGBTQ+ club on campus. Yeshiva University cla...
(JNS) - The International March of the Living announced on Thursday a global campaign with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial to preserve thousands of shoes belonging to children, most of them Jews, who were murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Around 8,000 children's shoes found at Auschwitz are rapidly disintegrating and require immediate conservation so they can be retained as historic documentation, the Foundation said. The conservation project,...
(JNS) - Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid supported the creation of a Palestinian state in a speech addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, sparking a swift denunciation from Israel's right. "Despite all the obstacles, still today a large majority of Israelis support the vision of this two-state solution. I am one of them," Lapid said. "An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel's security, for Israel's economy and...
