Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — In his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas demanded that Israel return to its pre-1967 borders or face consequences. “If the Israeli occupation authorities continue to entrench the reality of one apartheid state as is happening today, our Palestinian people and the entire world will not tolerate such a situation,” he said in a pre-recorded video. “Circumstances on the ground will inevitably impose equal and full political rights for all on the land of historical Palestine, within...
The Rosen JCC has an amazing fall planned. It will be filled with fun and excitement for the whole family. Miles to Go and the Rosen JCC: Your Town Square will be hosting the Good Ghoul Gala. The event will be at the Rosen Event center on Oct. 30th from 11a.m. – 3 p.m. This is a family friend, Halloween-themed day offering something for all ages. Guests can expect a spooky family fashion with surprise celebrity guests, Grammy nominated DJ, photo booth, games, shopping, trick or treating, H...
The Jewish Pavilion seeks to enhance the lives of our elders, of all faiths, in long-term care. They provide festive holiday programs and arrange friendly visits so that our aged know that they are not forgotten by the community. Their Orlando Senior Help Desk is their free resource that offers information and referrals to seniors and their family members 407-678-9363. Like many nonprofits, the Jewish Pavilion depends on its fundraising events for 1/3 of its budget, and some of these events have been cancelled due to the pandemic. You can help...
Dr. David Bortnick will explore the role of Florida’s Jews in the U.S. Civil War at a Zoom program of the St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society to be held, Tuesday, Oct.12, at 2:30 p.m. This event is open to the public, all are welcome, there is no charge and no advance arrangements need be made. Bortnick, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Florida State University and holds a doctorate degree in Marriage and Family Living and a second doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology, both from Nova Southeastern University has devot...
WASHINGTON (JTA) - Vice President Kamala Harris "strongly disagrees" with a university student who told her that Israel was carrying out "ethnic genocide," her office said, pushing back against claims that she encouraged the student's view. "Throughout her career, the vice president has been unwavering in her commitment to Israel and to Israel's security," Harris's spokeswoman, Symone Sanders, said Friday in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. "While visiting George Mason University...
(JNS)—Demarking a clear distinction between himself and his predecessor, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday morning that one of the most dangerous problems in the world today is political polarization. In his first address as prime minister to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Bennett called polarizations one of two plagues affecting the world at the moment, with the other being the COVID-19 pandemic. “Both the coronavirus and polarization can erode public trust in our institutions. Both can paralyze nations,” he said....
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A GOP flier distributed to homes in the Virginia suburbs of Washington depicts the Jewish Democratic candidate for the House of Delegates at a table stacked high with gold coins, a pairing of images of Jewish candidates with money that has proliferated in political attack ads in recent years. “Dan Helmer has raised Virginia’s cost of living to new heights,” the mailer said. It was distributed this week by Helmer’s Republican challenger, Howard Pyon. Helmer, the incumbent in the House of Delegate’s 40th District, which cover...
(JTA) — In his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett addressed the twin threats of Iran and the coronavirus, in keeping with his quest for a relationship with the international community that is less confrontational than his predecessor’s. Bennett launched his speech Monday morning with a plea to see Israel not as forever entrenched in warfare, but as a contributing member of the international community. Israel, Bennett said at the outset, “is a beacon of democracy, diverse by design, innov...
NEW YORK (JTA) - The first thing Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, facing a room full of the leaders of the American Jewish community: "I wish my mom were here." The son of American immigrants to Israel, Bennett, like his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks a fluent, nearly accentless English, and spent years living in the United States as both a child and an adult. But in other crucial ways, Bennett sounded different from Netanyahu in his first public address to American Jewish...
(JTA) – At a political rally in Berlin in June, a young Jewish gay man wearing a turquoise kippah launched his campaign to represent one of Germany's most ethnically diverse constituencies in parliament. The man, 34-year-old Marcel Yaron Goldhammer, promised to stoke the "embers of unity, justice and freedom" during his announcement speech in front of about 200 people in the southeastern Berlin neighborhood of Neukolln. But he's not running for a liberal party, or one promoting m...
(JTA) — Three Israelis have been arrested for an attack on Palestinian residents of the West Bank that sent a three-year-old to the hospital over the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret. The attack came amid a week in which several Palestinian terror suspects have been killed in the West Bank and Jerusalem. A man in Gaza who Israeli troops said was carrying a “suspicious bag” was also shot dead Thursday, according to the Times of Israel. On Tuesday afternoon, dozens of Israeli settlers entered the Palestinian village of Khirbat al-Mufkara, throw...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive congresswoman from New York, said she changed her vote from “no” to “present” on a bill for special funding for Israel’s anti-missile Iron Dome defense system because of the “panic and horror” that seized the moment. Ocasio-Cortez could be seen weeping on the floor of Congress Thursday after casting her vote. She was one of 11 representatives, including the other members of “the Squad” of progressives, who did not vote to support the $1 billion in Iron Dome funding; 420 representative...
(JNS) — A number of American Jewish organizations slammed a resolution adopted on Wednesday at a high-level meeting at the U.N. General Assembly that commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action stemming from a notoriously anti-Semitic World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, in 2001. “The resolution predictably claimed that the DDPA offered ‘a comprehensive United Nations framework and solid foundation for combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intol...
(JTA) — In a contentious meeting last week, the Seattle City Council narrowly voted down legislation that would have prohibited the city’s police department from conducting training with Israeli forces. The bill, which was defeated by a vote of 5-4 at the council’s meeting on Sept. 20, was conceived following the May conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Its lead sponsor was a socialist council member, Kshama Sawant, who also led a protest in June seeking to block an Israeli cargo ship from docking at Seattle’s port. The defeat of the bil...
(JNS) — Several Jewish groups have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of a case that could determine whether public funding could be given to parochial schools for secular education. In Carson V. Makin, parents of parochial-school students argued that the Maine Department of Education discriminated against their children by denying them tuition assistance available to nonsectarian schools. The First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Maine Department of Education. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether the s...
Jewish security organization opens national command center in Chicago By Ben Sales (JTA) — The Secure Community Network, which coordinates security for Jewish institutions nationwide, has opened a command center in Chicago to monitor antisemitic threats. The center’s main room is a monitoring room with a 16-foot video screen that shows a map and tally of incident reports and potential threats across the country. It is staffed by some 10 people on a daily basis, but can be operational 24 hours a day, as it was over the High Holidays this mon...
WASHINGTON (JTA) - Wrapping up the feel-good-fest that marked the first anniversary of the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and four Arabs states, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a shout-out to the big guy who started it all. No, not Donald Trump, but Abraham himself. "Abraham, in our Bible, had the temerity to engage God, to argue with God, to ask why, and maybe more important, to ask why not," Blinken said at the virtual get-together Friday that marked...
Shelley Wilson Lauten will be the interim chief executive officer at the Holocaust Center. Lauten has a long track record of distinguished leadership in our community and is ideally suited for this role at this time. She began this past Monday, Sept. 27. Lauten is a pillar of the Orlando philanthropic and business communities and an innovative thinker and strategist who has played an important role in developing Orlando as the center of business, culture and tourism it has become. Her...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved an extra $1 billion in funding for Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system, following a pushback effort from Israel-critical progressives that had limited reach. The vote Thursday was 420-9, with two voting present. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it is likely to be approved. Israel asked the Biden administration for $1 billion to replenish the batteries depleted during its conflict with Hamas in May. The Biden administration agreed, and the Democratic lea...
(JTA) — Los Angeles’ main teachers union voted Thursday to indefinitely postpone a motion in favor of boycotting Israel. For months, the United Teachers of Los Angeles, which has approximately 30,000 members, has been debating a motion to support BDS, or the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel. The motion was first raised in the wake of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in May. It has since been adopted by several local chapters of the union. The resolution calls for the union to “endorse the international campa...
The Rosen JCC is known for its Early Childhood Learning Center but there are always exciting new things happening. This fall the Healthy Kids Running Series is coming to the Rosen JCC. This is a five-week running program for kids 2 years old to 8th grade. It offers age appropriate running events including the 50 & 75 yard dash, the 1/4 mile, the 1/2 mile and 1 mile run. Children compete for points and at the end of the series those with the most points in their respective distances will be awarded trophies. All participants receive a medal on...
(JNS) — Jewish Democratic Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) is introducing legislation that would make a two-state solution official U.S. policy. Named the “Two-State Solution Act,” it states that “only the outcome of a two-state solution can both ensure the state of Israel’s survival as a democratic state and a national home for the Jewish people and fulfill the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a state of their own,” Politico first reported. It further states that the West Bank, including eastern Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, are...
(JTA) — A survey of members of AEPi and AEPhi, the most prominent national Jewish fraternity and sorority, found that large numbers of respondents have experienced antisemitism on campus. The survey also found that about half of respondents have felt the need to hide their Jewish identity on campus or in virtual campus settings. A slim majority said they “are somewhat or very reluctant to share their views on Israel,” according to the survey. The survey was commissioned by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a legal organ...
(JTA) — The man who opened fire on a synagogue in Poway, California in 2019, killing one and injuring three, has pleaded guilty to a 113-count federal hate crime indictment. The guilty plea comes with a recommended sentence of life in prison plus 30 years. The charges the shooter faced, which also relate to his arson of a mosque a month earlier, carried a maximum sentence of the death penalty. “The defendant entered a synagogue with the intent to kill all those inside because of his hatred for Jewish people, and days earlier used fire in an...
(JTA) — Hundreds of Iraqi civic leaders and activists attended a conference calling for the country to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel. But Iraq’s government rejected the call and is now seeking to arrest the leaders of the conference and may also try to arrest other attendees for the crime, under Iraqi law, of aiding and abetting ideas that support Zionism, according to Haaretz. Earlier, governmental leaders had said in a statement that the demand for normalization of ties with Israel “was not representative of the population’s...
