Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) — The prize dubbed the “Jewish Nobel” will be going to Barbra Streisand later this year, in a return to its tradition of honoring Jewish celebrities for their lifetime of achievements. The iconic actor and singer is getting the Genesis Prize, which has been awarded since 2013, in recognition of her contributions to a number of fields, including the arts and philanthropy. The prize was endowed by a group of Russian Jewish billionaires, three of whom stepped down from the board of a related foundation, the Genesis Philanthropy Group, after...
TEL AVIV (JTA) - In an unusual politicization of Israel's Memorial Day on Tuesday, several senior Israeli government officials faced protests at ceremonies commemorating fallen soldiers. The tensions unfolded as an Israeli was wounded in a shooting in the West Bank, and after five people were wounded in a car ramming Monday at Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market. The observances of the day, which is treated with solemnity and reverence in Israel, came days before the government intends to resume...
(JNS) - The Israeli right is determined to prove that the majority of the nation supports judicial reform with a "March of the Million" rally on Thursday evening, April 27, outside the Knesset in Jerusalem. According to organizers, 6 million shekels ($1.65 million) have been raised for the protest, 1 million shekels of that through crowdfunding and the rest through large donors and coalition parties. The Religious Zionism Party contributed 1.2 million shekels and the Likud Party 600,000...
(JNS) — Two suspects were arrested on Thursday in Tel Aviv, as anti-government protesters attacked Israel’s economy minister Nir Barkat. Meanwhile, organizers estimated 600,000 advocates of judicial reform gathered in Jerusalem. “March of the Million” participants, some hitting snags when bus drivers canceled their transportation to the rally at the last minute, reportedly arrived on as many as 1,000 buses. Other media outlets estimated the crowds were larger than 200,000. “I thank the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who came to Jerusalem...
(JNS) - Thousands of Israelis protested in favor of Jewish rights in Samaria on Monday afternoon, with a main march beginning at the Tapuach Junction and ending at the Evyatar outpost. At least seven Cabinet members, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, along with some two dozen other lawmakers were due to participate in the show of support. "We do not surrender to terrorism, not in Evyatar and not in Tel Aviv," said Ben-Gvir at the...
(JNS) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced on Sunday night the launch of a consultation process with global Jewry, ahead of an initiative to establish a worldwide Jewish advisory council under the Office of the President. The initiative, Kol Ha’am—Voice of the People: The President’s Initiative for Worldwide Jewish Dialogue, aims to foster open dialogue between Jewish communities and advise the Israeli president on core challenges facing the Jewish people. The advisory council, which will meet on a recurring basis, will be tasked with tak...
(JTA) — Two popular Israeli singers — one the “Madonna of the East,” the other the “king” of Mizrahi music as well as a convicted rapist — have teamed up on a new song in honor of their country’s 75th birthday. The twist: Both Ofra Haza and Zohar Argov have been dead for decades. Their collaboration, “Here Forever,” wasn’t unearthed in a dusty archive. Instead, the song and its accompanying video are essentially deepfakes, created using artificial intelligence that mined recordings from when they were alive to fabricate a lifelike performance...
(JNS) — Many see the creation of the modern-day State of Israel as part of a historical narrative, in which Israeli independence was a reaction to the Holocaust. “The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people—the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe—was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State,” the provisional government of Israel declared on May 14, 1948. But when JNS interviewed nearly 30 veterans of the 1948 War of Independe...
(JNS) — Negotiations over the Israeli government’s judicial reform initiative resumed on Monday as coalition representatives met with counterparts from the Yesh Atid and National Unity parties at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is mediating between the sides, said the talks would be “focused and rigorous” and cover all core issues. “The Office of the President continues to do everything in its power to encourage the sides to adhere to dialogue with the aim of bringing about a broad consensus,...
(JTA) — In a surprise move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed out of his appearance at a major conference of U.S. Jewish leaders in Tel Aviv, just hours before a speech that was expected to draw mass protests. But in a sign that the conference organizers did not expect Netanyahu’s cancelation to head off the protests, Jewish Federations of North America told attendees that it was not changing the schedule of the buses bringing them from their hotels to the conference center. The group had told attendees to plan extra tim...
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The first time Gidon Lev encountered Holocaust denial was after becoming an unwitting TikTok star at the age of 86. “I was totally shocked. How could this be?” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency about receiving dozens of comments accusing him of lying about the years in a Nazi concentration camp as a child. “If only I was a liar,” he said. “Then I would have a father, grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles. I would have had a childhood.” With half a million followers on the popular social media platform and 8.3 million l...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — No matter how you look at it, the current escalation is here to stay. Even if the flare-up with Hamas in Gaza and in the north is over for now, the chances of a multi-theater conflagration fomented by Iran have risen significantly, and it is doubtful whether the genie can be put back in the bottle. The escalation on all fronts has also had Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah meet this week in Lebanon with Hamas leaders, with a photo released showing all three men sitting in a room under Iran’s Supreme Lea...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - Despite the external and domestic challenges Israel has faced in the past several weeks due to ongoing terrorism and the protest over judicial reform, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been maintaining an upbeat demeanor, making it clear that he is optimistic and content with how things are unfolding in the government. The following interview was carried out just before Passover: "In the end, the public needs to know that we have a good and stable right-wing...
(JTA) — When Benjamin Netanyahu put his controversial calls for judicial reform on pause three weeks ago, many thought the protesters in Israel and abroad might declare victory and take a break. And yet a week ago Saturday some 200,000 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv, and pro-democracy protests continued among Diaspora Jews and Israeli expats, including those who gather each Sunday in New York’s Washington Square Park. On its face, the weeks of protest have been about proposed legislation that critics said would sap power from the Israeli Sup...
This Pesach started out like so many others ... beautiful sunny weather, lots of tourists, families gearing up for Seder and Chol haMoed vacations together in all the fun places in Israel with water. Life events in Israel are strong and fast. Weddings are tremendous events, with hundreds of guests. When I attended my first wedding in Israel I was astonished at the number of guests ... something like 600 ... ("who is paying for this?" I thought to myself) also the attire, so many in jeans and...
(JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu withdrew his firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing a sharp rise in violence in recent days, and suggested that proposed changes to the country’s judicial system that have sparked widespread protest were no longer imminent. In another concession to the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have flooded the streets to protest the planned changes, Netanyahu added on Monday that a yet-to-be established national guard corps would not answer directly to his far-right national security minister, Itam...
(JNS) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog resumed talks on Monday with Knesset factions aimed at hammering out a compromise on judicial reform. The president again hosted working teams representing the ruling coalition and the leading opposition parties Yesh Atid and National Unity, respectively the second- and third-largest parties in Israel’s parliament after Likud. Talks are being held at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem. Herzog convened the first meeting on March 28, shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement of a fre...
(JNS) The family of Or Eshkar, 32, who died on March 20 of a bullet wound sustained during a terror attack in Tel Aviv on March 9, donated his organs to five people. Eshkar’s heart was transplanted into a 65-year-old man. A 75-year-old man received his liver. A 52-year-old and a 59-year-old each received a kidney. And a liver lobe was transplanted into a one-year-old. The heart transplant, which went to Yedidya Sulimani, a father of four and grandfather of 11, was “complex” because the patient had an artificial heart implanted previ...
(JNS) - In a video message, Rabbi Leo Dee - whose wife, Lucy, 48, and daughters, Maia, 20, and Rina, 15, were murdered in a terrorist attack - called for the observance of April 10 as "Dees Day." "Today, we differentiate between good and evil, right and wrong," he said. Dee described being unable to reach his wife and daughters, who were traveling in a different car, after hearing that there had been a terrorist attack. Then he saw a missed call from one of his daughters. "The feeling that she...
(JNS) - A coordinated cyberattack took down the websites of major Israeli universities on Tuesday. A hacker group calling itself "Anonymous Sudan" claimed responsibility for the attack on its Telegram account, stating that the "Israel education sector has been dropped because of what they did in Palestine." Institutions impacted by the attack include Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, the Open University of Israel and Reichman Un...
(JNS) — Some 60,000 tourists are expected to arrive in Israel during the Passover and Easter holidays, injecting nearly $100 million into the economy. Passover begins on Wednesday at sundown and runs seven days in the Jewish state and eight days in the Diaspora. Easter is marked on April 9, and the monthlong Muslim festival of Ramadan began on March 22. Last month, 352,000 tourist entries were recorded and, overall, 916,000 tourists have visited Israel since the beginning of the year. “The positive trend in incoming tourism, along with the inc...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday in a national address that he was putting a hold on the government’s judicial reform efforts in order to “provide a real opportunity for real dialogue.” “We are on the path toward a dangerous collision in Israeli society. We are in the midst of a crisis that endangers the basic unity between us. Such a crisis requires us all to act responsibly,” he said. “Yesterday, I read [National Unity Party Chairman] Benny Gantz’s letter in which he undertakes to enter in good faith into...
(JTA) — Like hundreds of thousands of her fellow Israelis, Kelly Breakstone Roth’s instinct on Sunday was to take to the streets. The only wrinkle: She and her family have been in Brooklyn for the last two years, part of the diaspora of hundreds of thousands of Israelis living abroad. They couldn’t just walk out the door of their apartment and join the sweeping nationwide protest that ignited after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister, who had called for a pause on proposed changes to Israel’s judiciary. So they bought...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — After three months of demonstrations dominated by detractors of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan, supporters of the proposed reform took to the streets, making their voice heard in Jerusalem and across Israel. Gathered outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, thousands of pro-reform protesters, including settlers bused in from the West Bank, sought to back Netanyahu and Justice Minister Yariv Levin, even as the prime minister announced his intention to temporarily suspend the plan. “We are trying...
TEL AVIV (JTA) - When Daniel Schleider and his wife, Lior, leave Israel next month, it will be for good - and with a heavy heart. "I have no doubt I will have tears in my eyes the whole flight," said Schleider, who was born in Mexico and lived in Israel for a time as a child before returning on his own at 18. Describing himself as "deeply Zionist," he served in a combat unit in the Israeli army, married an Israeli woman and built a career in an Israeli company. Yet as Prime Minister Benjamin...
