Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — Kamau Bobb “will no longer be part of our diversity team going forward,” the tech giant Google announced Wednesday, after the surfacing of an antisemitic blog post its Global Lead for Diversity, Strategy and Research wrote in 2007. In a statement obtained by the Jewish Journal, Google said: “We unequivocally condemn the past writings by a member of our diversity team that are causing deep offense and pain to members of our Jewish community and our LGBTQ+ community. These writings are unquestionably hurtful. The author acknowl...
AMSTERDAM (JTA) - In Germany, a man wearing a kippah was beaten on the street. In Austria, a student was harassed on the train for reading a book mentioning Jews in the title. In London, a nurse said she was threatened at her hospital for wearing a Star of David necklace. And in Belgium, an Orthodox Jewish woman was told "Get away, dirty Jewess" by a man with whom she tried to share a park bench. The full dimensions of Europe's current surge in antisemitic activity are not yet clear, but by...
WASHINGTON DC - Hillel International, the largest Jewish campus organization in the world, announced today the 20 members of the 2021-2022 Hillel International Student Cabinet. One of those selected is Lana Kolchinsky, Class of 2022, who will serve on the Hillel International Student Cabinet representing Stetson University. "Lana is the two term president of Hillel, incoming student government president, and the first Stetson student selected for the Hillel cabinet," said Sam Friedman, Stetson...
WASHINGTON (JTA) - President Joe Biden will name Tom Nides, a deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration, to be his ambassador to Israel. The Times of Israel first reported the decision. Multiple sources close to the Biden administration confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Nides was the pick for ambassador and would be announced soon. The White House said it had nothing yet to announce. It was down to Nides and Robert Wexler, a former Florida congressman who for years has...
(JTA) — The Biden administration increased its assistance to Palestinians by $38.5 million in the wake of the latest Gaza war and pledged to abide by U.S. laws that would keep the money from going to terrorists. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined the additional funds that the administration plans to steer to the Palestinians. His statement came a day after Blinken concluded his trip to Israel and the Palestinian areas to discuss sustaining the ceasefire that ended the 11-day rocket exchange this month between Israel and H...
(JNS) — The Irish government has endorsed a parliamentary motion condemning the “de facto annexation” of the West Bank by the Israeli government, becoming the first European Union country to do so. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney supported the motion and condemned what he said was “manifestly unequal” treatment of Palestinians. “The scale, pace and strategic nature of Israel’s actions on settlement expansion and the intent behind it have brought us to a point where we need to be honest about what is actually happening on the ground. … It...
(Detroit Jewish News via JTA) - On his way home for a surprise visit to see family and friends, Jewish journalist Danny Fenster was detained Monday in Myanmar, where he works for a news site in the country's largest city of Yangon. Fenster is among the many journalists who have been detained, imprisoned or expelled from the country since a military coup took control of its government in February. The 37-year-old Detroit native was detained at Yangon International Airport shortly before boarding...
(JNS) - Amid ongoing talks in Vienna regarding a possible U.S. return to the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog warned in an interview published on Tuesday that "you cannot put the genie back in the bottle." International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi told the Financial Times that while most of the measures taken by Iran since the United States unilaterally exited the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018 could...
(JTA) — When actor Mark Ruffalo apologized on Monday for posts that “suggested Israel is committing ‘genocide,’” it wasn’t clear what comments of his own he was speaking about. But he drew attention to a loaded word that has leapt into public discourse in the past two weeks, during and after the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Accusations that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza have flown freely, from seasoned activists to the Palestinian foreign minister to people wading into the Israeli-Palestinian issue for t...
International Christian Embassy donates 15 bomb shelters to Israeli towns (JNS) — Amid the intense rocket barrages of recent days, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is pressing ahead with orders for 15 new portable bomb shelters—nine to be delivered as soon as possible to vulnerable Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip and the other six to exposed villages along the northern border with Lebanon. Thanks to gifts from concerned Christians worldwide, this will bring to 132 the total number of bomb shelters the ICEJ has donated since...
(JNS) — While the Biden administration’s negotiations to reach a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has generally being seen as successful, experts have low expectations that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit this week to the Middle East will accomplish anything more substantial than to ensure the international community that the United States remains engaged in the region. Dispatched at the request of U.S. President Joe Biden, Blinken met with Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian offic...
(JNS) — Israeli Ambassador to the United States Gilad Erdan called out Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Monday after she tweeted a defamatory post against the Jewish state. On Twitter, she wrote: “Al-Aqsa is the 3rd holiest site in Islam, & people praying during the holiest days of the holy month of Ramadan have been beaten, gassed, shot, & killed by Israeli forces. They are denied medics & forced to use prayer mats as stretchers. A place of peace desecrated by violence.” She added that “American taxpayer money is being used to commit human-r...
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Many thousands of people protested against Israel in major European cities over the weekend as the latest Israel-Gaza conflict reached new heights. Several events featuring antisemitic rhetoric and rioting. In Brussels, London and Vienna dozens of men were filmed at rallies on Saturday shouting in Arabic: “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.” The chant relates to an event in the seventh century when Muslims massacred and expelled Jews from the town of Khaybar, located in modern-day Saudi Arabia. It is wi...
(JNS) — The Black Lives Matter movement has expressed solidarity with the Palestinians amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and terrorist groups based in the Gaza Strip. “Black Lives Matter stands in solidarity with Palestinians,” the group tweeted. “We are a movement committed to ending settler colonialism in all forms and will continue to advocate for Palestinian liberation (always have. And always will be). #freepalestine.” The tweet was endorsed by the BDS movement on Twitter, which tweeted a “thank you” in response. “Thank you for your...
2 dead, over 210 injured in synagogue bleacher collapse In West Bank settlement By Andrew Lapin (JTA) — Israeli paramedics said that at least two worshipers had been killed and at least 213 were injured in a bleacher collapse incident at a synagogue in the Judean Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev on Sunday. The prayer gathering was held to mark the beginning of the Shavuot holiday. “Hundreds” of haredi Orthodox Jews were congregated at the synagogue in the Israeli settlement northwest of Jerusalem, which was still under construction, a Magen...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Saying that Israel has a right to defend itself, President Joe Biden has sent his top Israeli-Palestinian negotiator to the region in a bid to deescalate the deepening conflict there. During a White House news conference Wednesday (May 12) afternoon, Biden said he had just spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and had an “expectation and hope” that the conflict would end soon. “My national security staff and Defense staff has been in constant contact with their counterparts in the Middle East — not just with...
(JNS) — U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, where he double-downed on his “unwavering support” for Israel’s security amid more than 1,300 rockets fired on the country from terrorist factions in the Gaza Strip. According to a read out of the call from the White House, Biden “condemned the rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups, including against Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.” Furthermore, it said that the president “conveyed his unwavering support for Israel’s security and for Israel...
BERLIN (JTA) – The number of politically motivated crimes rose sharply in Germany last year, including a 15 percent rise in antisemitic offenses. The total documented by the country’s federal police force is the highest since contemporary record-keeping began in 2001. German officials said new efforts are underway to help police officers identify antisemitic crime. The annual report by the Federal Criminal Police Office released Tuesday showed an 8.54 percent increase in political crimes over 2019, to 44,692 crimes, German Interior Min...
(JNS) — The escalating conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is one of the first major policy tests for the Biden administration. Despite U.S. President Joe Biden’s hope to shift foreign policy away from the Middle East to deal with threats from China and Russia, it is now being confronted with the difficult reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JNS that the Biden administration is in a “decidedly awkward position” right now. “Amid n...
The Guardian says supporting the pro-Zionist Balfour Declaration in 1917 was a mistake By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA) — In an article about its “worst errors of judgment” from its 200-year history, a Guardian writer implied that the storied British paper’s editorial support of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 — the then-British foreign minister’s approval of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine — was a mistake. “The Guardian of 1917 supported, celebrated and could even be said to have helped facilitate the Balfour declaration,” edito...
(JNS) — A mass grave of Holocaust victims has been discovered near the village of Logoza in Belarus, the Daily Mail reported on Friday. Photos from the excavation site show that officials uncovered bone remains, full skeletons (some with bullets in their skulls), fragments of clothing and children’s shoes, in addition to ammunition from ditches that are as deep as five meters. Personal objects were found as well, including a key and a broken comb. The mass grave is located about 22 miles from the capital, Minsk. Experts from the cou...
In Jewish Heritage Month proclamation, Biden recognizes Emhoff and Schumer — and the rise of antisemitism By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA) — In his proclamation marking Jewish American Heritage Month, President Joe Biden cited the precedents set by prominent Jews in politics this year and condemned the nation’s spike in antisemitism in recent years. Biden recognized Douglas Emhoff and Chuck Schumer, saying this year Americans saw “two historic firsts… the Vice President take the oath of office alongside her Jewish spouse, and a Jewish American...
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Many thousands of people protested against Israel in major European cities over the weekend as the latest Israel-Gaza conflict reached new heights. Several events featuring antisemitic rhetoric and rioting. In Brussels, London and Vienna dozens of men were filmed at rallies on Saturday shouting in Arabic: “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.” The chant relates to an event in the seventh century when Muslims massacred and expelled Jews from the town of Khaybar, located in modern-day Saudi Arabia. It is...
(Jewish Journal-Massachusetts via JTA) - It's been nearly a decade since Phillip Weiner last lived in Sarajevo, where he served as an international war crimes judge. But Weiner has remained in touch with the Bosnian Jews he met there, and when he heard about their plight during the COVID-19 pandemic, he knew he had to do something. Serving in The Hague court at the Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal, Weiner prosecuted those responsible for the atrocities committed during the Bosnian War from 1992...
Kerry denies claim he informed Iran of Israeli strikes in Syria (JNS) — U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry on Monday denied allegations that he had discussed covert Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in Syria with Iran’s foreign minister. “I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened—either when I was Secretary of State or since,” Kerry tweeted on Monday night. Kerry was responding to a leaked audio recording of a closed-door discussion involving Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad...
