Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — Media representatives from 30 countries joined online last week to discuss the right of Jews throughout the world to intervene in what’s going on in Israel, as well as Israel’s new diplomatic ties and the influence of social networks on the hatred of Jews amid the coronavirus. The Government Press Office, in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, hosted the fourth International Jewish Media Summit on Dec. 7, held virtually due to the ongoing pandemic. Minister of Diaspora Affairs Omer Yankelevitch of the Blue and Whi...
Assault reported at Chabad of the Bluegrass menorah-lighting in Lexington, Kentucky By Philissa Cramer (JTA) — A Chabad center in Lexington, Kentucky, will see increased police presence for the rest of Chanukah after an assault during one of the community’s public menorah lightings. A driver directed anti-Semitic language at people lighting the menorah outside Chabad of the Bluegrass, police told the local TV station. When someone from the community tried to urge the driver away, the driver accelerated, dragging the community member and run...
(JNS) — In a ground-breaking move and in response to the lack of change in the Palestinian Authority school curriculum and the continued insertion of anti-Semitism, hate and incitement to violence and martyrdom in its textbooks, the Norwegian parliament endorsed a cut last week in aid to the P.A. In 2018, the United Kingdom commissioned a report on Palestinian textbooks from the Germany-based Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research, which then published a report that was found to be riddled with mistakes. The European Union t...
(JNS) — Israel’s National Security Council has issued a warning to the country’s citizens abroad to take special security precautions. “In light of the threats that have been made recently by Iranian elements, and given the past involvement of Iranian elements in terrorist attacks in various countries, there is concern that Iran will try to act in this manner against Israeli targets,” the NSC’s Counter-Terrorism Division said in a statement on Thursday. “Possible arenas for this action are both countries close to Iran (such as Georgia, Azer...
(JNS) — Ahead of the three-year anniversary of U.S. President Donald Trump recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, more than three-dozen Republican members of Congress have called for language in an upcoming must-pass appropriations bill that would prohibit American funding from being used to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Jerusalem. In a Dec. 4 letter, a group of 43 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives called on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Chu...
(JNS) — A key body of the European Union adopted a declaration on Wednesday to combat anti-Semitism. The Council of the European Union is comprised of government ministers from the 27 E.U. member-states, who meet to make laws and coordinate policies. The ministers have the authority to commit their governments to the actions agreed upon by the council, its main decision-making body. The declaration makes the fight against anti-Semitism a priority of Europe’s executive branch. The declaration calls anti-Semitism “an attack on European value...
(JNS) — The U.S. Supreme Court heard two cases on Dec. 7 related to the issue of Holocaust restitution. The court will decide if the United States has the jurisdiction, in accordance with the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, to rule about crimes that happened abroad where there was no American involvement. Although foreign governments usually cannot be sued in U.S. courts, exceptions for acts of terrorism or acts of property confiscation violating international law have been made in the past. The plaintiffs in both cases, Federal R...
A new Jewish streaming service, launched in London, aims to connect Jews and make them proud By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA) — A Jewish group based in London has launched Europe’s first Jewish streaming service, with the goal of “connecting all sorts of Jews to their culture and history.” JEWZY.tv, which is currently available only in the United States — or to a computer connecting via a US-based server — on Friday announced its launch as “chicken soup for the eyes,” The Jewish Chronicle reported. The new service follows the launch of two other Jewis...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Following years of diplomatic strife, Turkey over the weekend signaled to Israel yet again its desire for rapprochement. On Monday, former admiral Cihat Yayci, a close confidant of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is expected to publish a first-of-its-kind proposal for an agreement on the countries’ shared exclusive economic zones in the Mediterranean Sea. The article will appear in the Israeli academic journal Turkeyscope — published by the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv Un...
(JNS) — Former First Minister of Northern Ireland Lord David Trimble has nominated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office. Lord Trimble won the prize himself in 1998 for his efforts to find a solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland. As a Nobel laureate, his nomination of Netanyahu and Prince bin Zayed will lead the Norwegian Nobel Committee to discuss the issue. The announcement comes less than a mon...
(JTA) — The Council of the European Union, which is a key driver of EU policy, “invited” all the bloc’s 27 members to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism that includes anti-Israel vitriol. The invitation to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition came in a declaration published Wednesday by the Council, which is made up of cabinet ministers from all the bloc’s member states. “Member States that have not yet done so are invited to join the other Member States and endorse the IHRA working definition as soon as possi...
(JNS) - A free trade agreement between Israel and Ukraine will take effect beginning Jan. 1, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky posted on his Twitter account. "Relations between our countries are rising to a new level," he wrote. "This gives a 'green light' to Ukraine's export growth, and creates closer cooperation in the fields of high-tech, engineering and investment." Originally signed in January 2019, the agreement promotes the development of bilateral trade and economic cooperation...
(JTA) - As of Wednesday afternoon, one of the first results in a Facebook search for "Holohoax" - a term popular with Holocaust deniers - was a post decrying "Zionist White Jewish Supremacist Child murdering Apartheid State, Talmudic Satanic Holohoax promoters." Right below it was a video, posted by a group with more than 6,000 followers, captioned "Research: Holohoax and Jew world order." These results showed up six weeks after Facebook announced that it was banning Holocaust denial and...
Dead pig found outside rabbi’s door in heavily Orthodox New Jersey township By Ben Sales (JTA) — A dead pig’s body was found outside the door of a rabbi in the heavily Orthodox township of Lakewood, New Jersey. The body was found on Shabbat, according to The Lakewood Scoop, and the local police department is treating the incident as a bias crime. Pigs are seen as the quintessentially unkosher animal and have long been used as an anti-Semitic symbol. “We will not tolerate such acts in our town,” Lakewood Police Chief Greg Meyer told The Scoop, a...
(JNS)— The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded its prestigious €9.7 million ($11.5 million) Synergy Grant jointly to researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) and Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin, according to a statement from the spokesperson’s department at TAU. Research groups led by Professor Judith Berman, head of the Fungal Drug Response lab at TAU’s Shmunis School of Biomedical and Cancer Research, and Professor Markus Ralser, director of Charité’s Institute of Biochemistry, will now investigate the biological mechanisms tha...
(JTA) — Jewish groups in Quebec are expressing dismay after the province announced a plan to allow small gatherings at Christmas but said gatherings during Chanukah would remain prohibited. The plan would permit Quebecers to have gatherings of up to 10 people per day for four days in late December, in a concession to the fact that families would likely gather even as COVID-19 cases surge. Gatherings were not permitted during Canadian Thanksgiving last month, but people got together nonetheless and cases soon surged throughout the country. Premi...
When the Yiddish New York Festival kicks off on the first night of Chanukah, the coincidence of the weeklong celebration of Yiddish culture, food, music and dance with the Festival of Lights will be unmissable. Aside from the traditional Chanukah staples of latkes and jelly doughnuts that will be on hand, one highlight of the festival at the 14th Street Y in Manhattan will be the remarkable photography display called "Chanukah in Mea Shearim (Jerusalem)." The photos in the exhibit offer a...
Sweden pleads for the life of Iranian-Swedish physician set to be executed in Iran for spying for Israel By Ron Kampeas (JTA) — The Swedish foreign minister pleaded with Iran to spare the life of a Swedish-Iranian physician who was convicted on charges that he was spying for Israel, saying they were trumped up. “Sweden condemns the death penalty and is working to ensure that the verdict against Ahmadreza Djalali is not enforced,” Ann Linde said Tuesday on Twitter, adding that she had spoken to her Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif. Djala...
VANCOUVER, Canada (JTA) - On a January afternoon, snow blanketed the streets of this western Canada city of famously weather-fickle residents. But it didn't keep 30 Jews from packing into the living room of Noam and Val Dolgin to talk about Jewish cohousing. The group ran the gamut in age, from young adults to families with kids to retirees. Some were secular in search of cultural fellowship, while others were more religiously observant and cared about living in a space conducive to observing...
Repair the World and Hillel International are collaborating to mobilize thousands of college students in meaningful volunteer service and learning through the national Serve the Moment initiative. About 100 Hillel "Campus Corps Members" will serve on campuses throughout the world and recruit peers to engage in ongoing service work with local nonprofits to address urgent needs in their communities. "Jewish college students witness inequity and racial injustice in their neighborhoods and across th...
(JTA) - National Independence Day in Poland has served in recent years as a backdrop for anti-Semitic, xenophobic and violent incidents at nationalist rallies. Last week, thousands in Warsaw flouted the coronavirus ban on public gatherings and clashed with police who tried to disperse them. The illegal procession on Independence Day, Nov. 11, included a banner that read "no to Jewish demands" - a reference to the efforts pushing Poland to pass legislation offering restitution for property that o...
Study: Israel second least affordable country (JNS) — Israeli housing is the second most expensive in the world, a new study finds. According to the study, conducted by Australia’s price-comparison website CompareTheMarket, the average Israeli household spends the equivalent of 26.6 percent of its annual disposable income on each square meter (10.8 square feet) of housing space. The only country with less affordable housing is South Korea, the study notes, with each square meter (10.8 square feet) of housing space costing the equivalent of 39....
(JTA) — At the end of the annual conference of Chabad emissaries from around the world, they typically take a giant group photograph in front of the movement’s headquarters in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights. But this year, no camera at the Kinus Hashluchim could capture the nearly 6,000 participants at once: They were on Zoom from their separate computers and time zones. The video version was a concession to the coronavirus pandemic that has disrupted the globe for nearly a year. What’s more, the conference didn’t really end. Without planes to catch...
(JNS) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to be the first in his role to both visit the Golan Heights, as well as Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank, reported Axios on Thursday. It will be part of a 10-day trip to Europe and the Middle East starting on Friday, starting with France, Turkey, Georgia and Israel. He will then travel to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Visiting the Golan and an Israel settlement would reflect the Trump administration’s policy surrounding these areas. The United States forma...
(JTA) — Five years ago, a plea to rescue a centuries-old synagogue in Ostroh, Ukraine, struck a chord with Hryhoriy Arshynov, a lifelong Jewish resident of the city four hours west of Kyiv. Damaged during the Holocaust, the magnificent 17th-century Maharsha synagogue was used as a warehouse under Soviet rule and endured decades of neglect. With its collapsed roof, it was on the verge of ruin. After reading an article about the synagogue, Arshynov, a civil engineer, stepped up to restore it. Arshynov had devoted years of his life to p...
