Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — As many as 250 Britons stood outside of the headquarters of the publicly funded British Broadcasting Corporation in London on Monday night to demand that it take accountability for anti-Jewish coverage on the network. There, they chanted “BBC, where the proof? BBC, tell the truth” in response to an on-air report during Chanukah about an attack on a bus full of Jewish teens in Central London. In its coverage of the event, according to Campaign Against Antisemitism, the BCC reported that...
(JNS) — In the last academic year, pro-Israel college students have felt vilified and ostracized as anti-Israel and anti-Zionism sentiment proliferates at schools nationwide, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League. Findings included in “The Anti-Israel Movement on U.S. Campuses, 2020-2021,” identify the campus anti-Israel movement as being led by student groups and certain professors. Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace continue to be two of the most influential anti-Israel campus groups, allied often...
(JTA) — Fox News removed a cartoon depicting George Soros as a puppet master from social media after the Anti-Defamation League called out the conservative news giant for peddling antisemitic tropes. “As we have told @FoxNewsnumerous times, casting a Jewish individual as a puppet master who manipulates national events for malign purposes conjures up longstanding antisemitic tropes about Jewish power and contributes to the normalization of antisemitism,” the ADL wrote Wednesday in a tweet. “This needs to be removed.” The cartoon, by A.F. Bran...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed at his private palace in Abu Dhabi on Monday in the first official visit by an Israeli premier to the United Arab Emirates. The growing economic ties between their two countries were on the official agenda, though analysts tell JNS that behind the scenes the key topic of Iran was likely front and center. The optics couldn’t have been better for Bennett. Upon arrival on Sunday, he was greeted by an honor guard and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zay...
UK lawmaker apologizes for evoking Nazi Germany in debate over COVID measures By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA) — A lawmaker from the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party apologized for evoking Nazi Germany while criticizing restrictive measures meant to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Marcus Fysh, a former business executive who entered parliament in 2015 as a representative of the Yeovil constituency in western Britain, made the apology in an op-ed published Monday in the Jewish Chronicle. “I am sorry that during debate about the curre...
(Israel21C via JNS) — When it comes to the Miss Universe pageant, most people firmly belong in one of two categories: those who consider it to be a global celebration of women and beauty, and others who find it an old-fashioned, patriarchal event that belongs deep in the past. Whether you find it to be an incredible, sparkly international affair or not, there’s no disputing that this year, it’s one that’s (relatively) close to our hearts, being held as it is for the first time in Israel,...
(JTA) - Violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank are nothing new. But the phenomenon has reached alarming new level of frequency this year. Violent attacks perpetrated by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank exceeding last year's attacks by nearly 50 percent, according to a report by The Times of Israel. In 2021, there have been 397 attacks so far, compared to 272 in 2020, The Times of Israel reported based on data from the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency....
The Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando held meetings Dec. 12 and Dec. 13 (at the Roth Family JCC and Rosen JCC, respectively) to discuss the results of the community study, conducted by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University with the assistance of UNH Survey Center. The last study was done in 1993 – 28 years ago, and a lot has changed! There are 51,400 Jewish people (41,700 adults and 9,700 children) living in 25,500 Jewish households in Central Florida. In a...
(JNS) - Former longtime Kansas Republican senator, leader and 1996 GOP nominee for president Bob Dole died on Dec. 5 at the age of 98. Dole's death was announced by the Elizabeth Dole Foundation on Sunday morning, saying that Dole died in his sleep after it became known early this year that he had stage IV lung cancer. His passing was met with words of respect from a bipartisan swath of the Jewish community. Dole was the recipient of the Jewish Federations of North America's 2020 Lifetime...
(JTA) - Israeli officials are expected to attend the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing next year, unlike their American counterparts who will boycott the game to protest China's human rights abuses against the Uighur Muslim minority. Haaretz reported the news, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official who called the Americans' decision to boycott "bizarre." Earlier this week, the United States announced that no American officials would attend the games. The boycott only applies to diplomatic...
At the end of the first quarter as the spotlight glared at the stage, the Grand Menorah Lighting at Amyway Center captured the thousands of participants as Jewish musical artist Jimmy Levy from American Idol led with singing the Brochos. Chanukah Night gave the city of Orlando the opportunity to celebrate and share the fun spirit of Chanukah. The Grand Menorah was lit in the presence of thousands proclaiming the timeless message that light ultimately triumphs over darkness. "There is no better...
(JTA) - When she won the privilege of representing Puerto Rico in the Miss Universe contest, Michelle Marie Colon spoke of her pride in making history as the first Black woman from the territory to seize the honor. This week in Israel, where the contest is being held, she has been touting pride in another aspect of her heritage: her Jewish great-grandfather who escaped the Holocaust. Last week, Colon posted a photo of her holding hands with Noa Cochva, the Israeli entrant into the contest,...
After almost 2 years, this foursome was finally reunited. (l-r, standing) Jill Cousins, Dale Perreault and Debbie Meitin have been playing mahjong with Ruth (seated) for over six years. Ruth resides in Tuscawilla Nursing Home and they all look forward to their biweekly game. Throughout the pandemic, Jill, Dale and Debbie corresponded with Ruth many times, through phone calls and letters. Friendships and special bonds like this are very common through connections made through the Jewish...
(JTA) — Leaders of the New Hampshire House of Representatives released a statement last week condemning antisemitism after a state lawmaker tweeted in support of Palestinians using a slogan many deem to be antisemitic. Speaker of the House Sherman Packard, a Republican, and House Democratic leader Renny Cushing wrote in a joint statement Thursday that “any form of bigotry — anti-Semitism, racism, bigotry — has no place in our society” and “it is unacceptable that any member of this historic legislative body is involved in perpetuatin...
(JTA) — Student governments considered resolutions to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel at 17 college campuses in the United States during the 2020-2021 school year, according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League. The watchdog group, which released the data Wednesday as part of its annual reporting, called the BDS resolutions a “cornerstone of anti-Israel campus activity during the last year.” During a school year in which a May conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza was accompanied by widespread criticism of Israel on an...
(JNS) — Students Supporting Israel said in an open letter that it urges the Duke University Student Government to vote against its president, who vetoed a decision to formally recognize the organization. DSG president Christina Wang vetoed recognition of SSI on Monday because the group called out a student on social media in a way that was “unacceptable for any student group,” Wang wrote in a statement obtained by Duke’s student publication, The Chronicle. “Have we really gotten to the point where one student government leader can de-platfo...
(JTA) — Pennsylvania will allocate $6.6 million in funding for the redevelopment of the Tree of Life synagogue campus where 11 people were killed in an antisemitic attack in 2018. Speaking at a press conference outside the synagogue Monday, the last day of Hanukkah, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolfe called the state’s contribution to the renovation “a Hanukkah present.” “Tree of Life is undertaking a project to remember the past, to inform the present, and promote healing for the future,” Wolf said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazett...
(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Israel will set plans in motion to renovate the non-Orthodox prayer space at the Western Wall, an Israeli official said Tuesday in New York. The current Israeli government is expected to implement an agreement, shelved under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that would expand an area of the holy site where men and women could pray as they please. But speaking to journalists at the Israeli consulate in New York City, Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai said that before it formally implements the 2...
(JNS) - A new autonomous unmanned ground vehicle introduced by Israeli companies Elbit Systems and Roboteam, called "Rook," can carry out a remarkable number of roles on the battlefield. Elad Levy, CEO of Roboteam, told JNS that the ground robot is tailor-made to client needs through its ability to be assembled in a system of "boxes," with each box allowing for clients to choose a different kind of capability - much like assembling Legos. While one box can act as an electrical engine, others...
(JNS) — Jewish groups are sounding the alarm after the New York City Police Department released statistics on Wednesday indicating that hate crimes have doubled in a single year. Of the nearly 500 hate crimes reported in the city as of November, some 180 were antisemitic in nature. The total is up from 121 incidents the year before and accounts for the largest number of hate crimes against any group. Scott Richman, NY/NJ regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, said “it’s alarming that in the past seven weeks alone, we have had to is...
(JTA) - Michael Steinhardt, the hedge funder and megadonor to Jewish causes, has agreed to surrender 180 stolen antiquities worth $70 million to their rightful homelands and to never again collect ancient artifacts. In exchange, Steinhardt will avoid criminal charges related to an investigation that found he had acquired, owned and sold more than 1,000 looted items over the past three decades. Those are the terms of a deal that Steinhardt finalized Monday with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus...
German broadcaster will probe antisemitism allegations against Arabic-language staff By Asaf Shalev (JTA) — A German government-owned news broadcaster has launched an investigation into a report that four of its employees and one freelancer made social media comments that downplay the Holocaust and promote antisemitism. The five individuals, members of Deutsche Welle’s Arabic service, are being suspended from work until the investigation is concluded, the news service announced on Friday. Leading the investigation will be two independent exp...
The Netherlands’ far-Left BIJ1 party has called for the cancelation of the country’s annual Holocaust commemoration ceremony, calling the event “inherently racist,” according to a Dutch report picked up by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “The BIJ1 party, which defines itself as devoted to ‘antiracism and decolonialization’ and advocates for ‘official apologies for slavery and colonial occupation and bearing of the legal consequences,’ made the call in a draft of its program in the March 2022 municipal elections in Amsterdam, the news site Jonet....
(JNS) — European diplomats said on Tuesday that if Iran does not demonstrate seriousness in nuclear negotiations with world powers this week, there will be a problem. Andrea Stricker, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and an expert on the Iran nuclear program, told JNS that “if Iran comes to talks with maximalist demands for sanctions relief and refuses to resume discussing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the P5+1 will quickly realize that Tehran’s game is one of extortion, and they could pivot to a unite...
(JTA) — After an outcry and a rebuke from the University of Toronto president, the student union at a satellite campus modified a proposed ban on kosher foods in any way affiliated with Israel, but a campus Jewish campus group said the change made matters worse. The board of directors of the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus Student Union convened for an emergency meeting Dec. 1 to address the outcry after a Nov. 24 resolution affirming the union’s boycott, divestment and sanctions policy regarding Israel placed restrictions on kos...
