Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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By David Isaac (JNS) — A new report by pro-Israel NGO Im Tirtzu reveals that over the last five years, U.N. agencies have funneled at least $40 million to radical anti-Israel groups, some with terror ties. It also offers a prescription: a Taylor Force Act applied to the United Nations. Passed by Congress in 2018, the Taylor Force Act, named after a U.S. war veteran and graduate student killed by a terrorist while visiting Israel, conditions U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority on its halting payments to terrorists. The P.A. puts such a high p...
(JTA) - For Chabad-Lubavitch, major events aren't over until they take a group photograph. The tradition, covering the international Hasidic movement, creates much more than a souvenir. It has also generated a visual record of Chabad's growth from a small group in the 18th century in what was then the Russian empire to a global movement with branches today in dozens of countries. Last month in Kazakhstan, the photo opportunity yielded something else: a fine for violating rules against large...
Biden names Marc Stanley, prominent Texas Jewish Democrat, as envoy to Argentina By Ron Kampeas (JTA) — President Joe Biden has nominated Marc Stanley, a longtime leader among Jewish Democrats who is active in both Texas politics and Israel lobbying, to be the ambassador to Argentina. In the role, he will play a role as the U.S. government, along with American Jewish groups, continue to press Argentine authorities to pursue accountability for the attack on the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, which killed 85 people and i...
(JTA) — The Jewish Federations of North America has canceled the in-person portion of its signature annual event, the General Assembly, citing the coronavirus. The umbrella group for local federations had planned to combine online and in-person events, but told participants this week that it was canceling the latter for the expected 500 participants. Events last year were held online only, but Jewish Federations until the recent spike in coronavirus cases had hoped to reemerge into in-person events. Instead, the events Oct. 4-5 will take p...
Israeli Cabinet approves first state budget in three years (JNS) — The Israeli Cabinet on Monday unanimously approved the state budget for 2022-2021, after marathon negotiations that began on Sunday morning and ran throughout the night. “Israel has a budget, a budget of a government that cares. After three years of stalemate, Israel is returning to work,” said Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in a statement, noting it had been three years since a state budget had been passed due to political gridlock which saw the country hold four elect...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Ecuador’s largest supermarket chain, owned by El Rosado Group, has announced that it will no longer sell ice-cream manufactured by Unilever, which owns Ben & Jerry’s. The company has more than 180 stores across Ecuador and is joining other supermarket stores worldwide that are protesting the decision by Ben & Jerry’s not to sell ice-cream beyond Israel’s pre-1967 Green Line. “For us, [the] decision is worrying and scandalous,” El Rosado Group CEO Johnny Czarninski wrote in a letter to Unilever. He also contacted Isr...
(BURLINGTON, VT) - The Israeli-American Council flew a banner over Ben & Jerry's factory and global headquarters in South Burlington, VT, reading "Serve Ice Cream, Not Hate," the social media hashtag #BDSisHATE, and the American and Israeli flags as part of a campaign the IAC launched today demanding Ben & Jerry's stop their boycott of part of the Israeli population The flyover this past Friday kicked off a global advocacy effort that also features a social media campaign urging people to call...
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the American Jewish businessmen who founded Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings in 1978, said in a New York Times guest essay on Wednesday that they "unequivocally support" the company's decision last week to no longer sell its ice cream in Judea and Samaria. "We unequivocally support the decision of the company to end business in the 'occupied territories,' which a majority of the international community, including the United Nations, has deemed an illegal occupation...
(JNS) — A recent mass arrest of Hamas members in the West Bank offers a glimpse into the deceptive nature of the ongoing quiet in the area and how hard the terror organization based in the Gaza Strip is working to puncture the relative calm. At any given time, Hamas is trying to set up terror cells, and only the determined efforts by the Israeli defense establishment prevents these efforts from maturing into waves of shootings and bombings against Israelis. Earlier this month, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet intelligence agency a...
(JTA) — The Jewish highlights of the Tokyo Olympics kicked off with Jewish basketball superstar Sue Bird serving as one of Team USA’s two flag bearers at the opening ceremony, a huge honor. The lasting accolades, though, are the medals that winning athletes take home. Dozens of Jewish athletes are competing in the Games this year, but the fierce competition means that only some will enter the record books as gold, silver or bronze medalists. Here are the Jewish athletes who have clinched a medal, in chronological order. We’ll continue to updat...
(JNS) - If day one of the Christians United for Israel 2021 summit was about honoring Israel, the next day's focus at the organization's annual conference held this year in Dallas was a call to action. The more than 700 invited CUFI leaders and donors at the two-day conference on July 18-19 arrived early in the morning for the start of the marathon conference day that covered every topic from Iran, BDS and antisemitism among others. Rather than the pep rally for Israel last Sunday, Monday...
(JTA) - It has been a question insiders have posed all week: Could Ben & Jerry's decision to stop selling its ice cream in the West Bank trigger many or all of the laws that U.S. states have passed in recent years to hurt the Israel boycott movement? Well, five states are already looking into it. Officials in Florida, Texas, New York, New Jersey and Illinois are reviewing whether the move will require divestment from Ben & Jerry's parent company Unilever under their various state laws. There...
Algerian judoka quits Olympics to avoid Israeli opponent By Gabe Friedman (JTA) — An Algerian judoka reportedly pulled out of the Olympics on Thursday after seeing his tournament draw, which would have pitted him against an Israeli opponent in the second round. “We were not lucky with the draw. We got an Israeli opponent and that’s why we had to retire. We made the right decision,” Fethi Nourine’s coach told Algerian media. Nourine would have had to face Tohar Butbul in the under 73 kg division. He similarly pulled out of the 2019 World Champio...
(JNS) - It's been three years since Hanna and Shamshy Schlager traded their home in New York for a new one in Modi'in, Israel. It's been a good three years, they'll tell you, a time of growth, not the least of which was adding a third child to their family. But that first year was not without its challenges, including arranging for bank accounts and credit cards, insurance policies - not to mention the paperwork around setting up his private psychology practice. "All of a sudden, you need to...
Forty-nine years after the 1972 massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, Friday's opening ceremony for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics included, for the first time, an official commemoration of those who died in the terror attack. Tributes were paid to those lost during the pandemic and throughout Olympic history. The Israeli delegation that was killed at the Munich Games was specifically mentioned. A moment of silence was offered inside the stadium, alongside a dance performance honoring th...
(JNS) — Ben & Jerry’s announced on Monday that it will end sales of its ice-cream in Judea and Samaria In a statement posted on the company’s website, the ice-cream brand said that it believes “it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” claiming that “we also hear and recognize the concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners.” “We have a longstanding partnership with our licensee, who manufactures Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream in Israel and distributes it in the regio...
(JNS) - When Belgian professional road and cyclo-cross racer Wout van Aert took the 21st and final stage of the Tour de France and Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar won the overall 2021 Tour de France on Sunday, there weren't many Israeli riders in sight. Even without Israeli riders winning the race, this year's Tour de France was an unprecedented victory for the Jewish state. The famed race, which each year covers 3,413 kilometers (2,121 miles) over 21 stages in 23 days, featured eight riders...
(JNS) — The fallout over the decision by Ben & Jerry’s to no longer sell its products in what the company calls “occupied Palestinian territory,” which includes parts of Jerusalem, immediately rippled throughout the Jewish world, with Israel’s leaders and pro-Israel groups urging action and threatening legal consequences against the ice-cream company and its corporate owner, Unilever. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with Unilever CEO Alan Jope on Tuesday, saying that the Jewish state takes the move very seriously. According...
Ben & Jerry’s is trying to appease a global campaign of hate called BDS, by cutting ties with its factory in Israel. Extremists are already celebrating this decision and demanding that the company use its socially conscious brand to harm Israelis even further. Urge Ben & Jerry’s to oppose hate, strengthen its ties with Israel, and support peace. The company says they will find a different way to sell in Israel and suggest their decision is driven by opposition to Israeli policy in the West Bank. However, it’s clear they are responding to press...
By Abigail Klein Leichman (Israel21c via JNS) - Israel is sending its largest-ever Olympic delegation of 89 athletes to the Tokyo Olympics set for July 23 to August 8. And we're sending 32 athletes to Tokyo for the Paralympics from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5. Do any of these contestants have a good chance of bringing home a medal? It's a good question. Israel is sending its largest-ever Olympic delegation of 89 athletes to the Tokyo Olympics set for July 23 to Aug. 8. And we're sending 32 athletes to To...
(JNS) — The Palestinian Authority has prepared an extensive “grocery list” of demands to present this week to the United States as a precondition for a renewal of talks with Israel, Channel 12 reported on Sunday. At the top of the list, a copy of which Channel 12 says will be sent to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, is the reopening of Orient House and other Palestinian institutions in eastern Jerusalem that have been closed since 2001, and whose political activities the Israel Police and Shin Bet have been preventing. Other P.A. deman...
(JTA) - The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are finally happening, a full year after they were planned. And yes, they're still being called the 2020 Olympics, even though they're happening in 2021. The Jewish athletes competing this year - and there are many - are the products of inspiring journeys. There's the fencer looking for redemption, Israel's first Olympic surfer, one of the greatest canoe paddlers of all time, a teen track star para-athlete, and so many more. The games run July 23 through Aug. 8;...
Biden taps LA’s Jewish mayor Eric Garcetti to be US ambassador to India By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Joe Biden nominated Los Angeles’ Jewish mayor, Eric Garcetti, to be his ambassador to India. In announcing the nomination on Friday, the White House emphasized Garcetti’s experience in leading an international city. Garcetti, 50, who was raised Jewish and attended Jewish summer camp, was a co-chairman of Biden’s presidential campaign and helped select his running mate, Kamala Harris. “As mayor, Garcetti oversees the busiest con...
(JNS) - The Israeli company Watergen has implemented a pilot project, installing a GEN-M water generator at Rocky Ridge Gas & Market in the Hard Rock community of the Navajo Nation. It was facilitated by store owner Germaine Simonson, Tó Nizhóní Ání, StandWithUs, Bright Path Strong and 4D Products & Services, in coordination with Arlando Teller, former Arizona state representative and current deputy assistant secretary for tribal affairs for the U.S. Department of Transportation. Arizona Stat...
(JNS) — Anti-Israel activists took to social media to accuse the Israel Defense Forces of exploiting the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Fla. Rafael Shimunov, a political activist from Queens, N.Y., questioned the motives of involvement by the Israeli military. He tweeted: “I really don’t understand the IDF’s involvement in rescue attempts of people tragically crushed under buildings in Miami. Their expertise is crushing buildings with people in them, not rescuing them.” He added: “As if we don’t have any expertise or...
