Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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NEW YORK (JTA)—A Palestinian-backed U.N. resolution setting a one-year deadline for a peace deal with Israel failed to garner sufficient votes for passage in the U.N. Security Council. The resolution, which was voted on Dec. 30, was aimed at achieving a full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank by late 2017. Eight nations on the 15-member council votes yes, two voted no and five abstained. Nine votes were required for passage. Had nine votes been obtained, the United States, which voted against the resolution, was expected to exercise its Secu... Full story
HarperCollins, one of the world's largest publishing houses that sells English-language atlases to schools in the Middle East, made a large, intentional mistake-it omitted labeling Israel. In fact, the Middle East Atlases showed Jordan and Syria extending to the Mediterranean and clearly marked the position of the West Bank. The decision to omit Israel elicited a tremendous amount of anger online, and now HarperCollins is pulling its Middle East Atlas from sale in all territories, and has... Full story
(JNS.org) The Knesset Finance Committee on Dec. 21, 2014 voted to allocate $3.1 million to build a tourism center in the Jewish community of Barkan in Samaria. Committee members from the Likud, Habayit Hayehudi, and Yisrael Beiteinu parties voted in favor of funding the center. “The visitors’ center in question is a crucial asset for Israel,” Likud MK Gila Gamliel said, according to Israel Hayom. “It’s intended to present scientific exhibits to thousands of young people and school pupils.” Responding to criticism of the vote’s result by Lab... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—A Palestinian man was crushed to death as he tried to get through a West Bank checkpoint. Ahmad Samih Bdeir, 39, a construction worker from the village of Farun in the northern West Bank, died Dec. 31 at the Efraim checkpoint, the Palestinian Maan news agency reported. Bdeir reportedly was choked to death in the crush of people trying to get through the checkpoint. More than 15,000 Palestinian workers pass through al-Tayba checkpoint every day, Maan reported, citing the Palestinian Federation of Trade Unions. A year ago, a... Full story
(JNS.org) The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has barred a group of 37 orphans in Gaza from visiting Israel as part of a peace-building trip meant to heal wounds between the parties to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. According to trip organizers, the group, which included children ages 13-16, was turned back by Hamas authorities at the last minute at the Erez border crossing into Israel. The group had received approval from Israeli authorities for the weeklong trip. “This was a suspicious visit that aimed to normalize our children with t... Full story
Abbas: Palestinians will resubmit statehood resolution JERUSALEM (JTA)—Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinians will resubmit a statehood resolution to the United Nations Security Council. “We will go back to the Security Council until it recognizes our rights,” Abbas said Sunday in Ramallah, in the West Bank, Reuters reported. “We are determined to join international conventions and treaties despite the pressure. “We didn’t fail, the U.N. Security Council failed us. We’ll go again to the Security Council, why not? Pe... Full story
Since its founding in 1948, Muslim-majority allies have been hard to come by for the Jewish state. Yet an improbable romance continues to develop between Israel and Azerbaijan. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon took a surprise trip to Azerbaijan in September, marking the first-ever visit by the holder of his position to a Muslim-majority nation in the Southern Caucasus region. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and former president Shimon Peres have also visited Azerbaijan, and Azer... Full story
JERUSALEM— These are the results of the most recent poll conducted jointly by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah. This joint survey was conducted with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Ramallah and Jerusalem. • Following the war in Gaza in the summer of 2014, 50 percent of Israelis and 38 percent of Palestinians support a permanent settlement package along the Clinton parameters and the Gen... Full story
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Anne Richard says the United States will dramatically increase the number of Syrian refugees allowed to resettle permanently in the United States from about 350 this year to close to 10,000 annually as the crisis grinds on into its fifth year. Summary The low number of Syrian refugees accepted so far by the United States, attributable in part to Germany and Sweden offering to "take a lot," will increase significantly in... Full story
(JTA)-Citing failures by the organization traditionally responsible for bringing Jews to Israel, the founder of a Jerusalem-based interfaith charity said his organization would begin bringing more Jews to Israel from Europe-starting with Ukraine. Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, accused the Jewish Agency for Israel of not responding quickly enough to demand for aliyah sparked by violence in Ukraine, prompting the fellowship to launch... Full story
(JNS.org) Hamas has reportedly renewed work on its terror tunnels, using building materials transferred from Israel for the reconstruction of civilian structures in Gaza following this summer’s war. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Palestinian sources inside of Gaza said that after Israel allowed a limited flow of goods and materials into Gaza, a black market for mortar paste emerged that allowed Hamas to renew construction of concrete slabs used to line the inside of tunnels. Hamas has also started to rebuild its rocket arsenal from ... Full story
Jewish National Fund (JNF) is hosting its Queen of Sheba Mission, the only trip available that brings American and Israeli women together, will depart for Israel for seven days on March 15, 2015. JNF missions are known to inspire and connect participants with the land and her people. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is a unique and unforgettable trip to Israel for women only—no husbands, no boyfriends—just women, experiencing life as their Israeli sisters do. Mission co-chairwoman Vivian Grossman of Weston, Florida, remarked, “The bonds... Full story
(JNS.org)—Germany’s government said Monday that it plans to fund the Israeli navy’s purchase of four corvette warships from the German firm Thyssen Krupp. The funding agreement was reached between the two countries in November, and the German government has pledged as much as $143 million for the warships, according to a report by the German newspaper Bild. The deal must be approved by the German parliament’s budget committee, which will lead to the finalization of a contract by the end of the year, said German government spokesman Steffen... Full story
Two teens arrested in firebombing that severely injured Israeli girl JERUSALEM (JTA)—Two Palestinian teens were arrested in connection with a firebombing that left an 11-year-old Israeli girl fighting for her life. The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service said in a statement Saturday that the two were arrested Dec. 25 night in the village of Azzoun. The arrests occurred just hours after the attack that severely injured Ayala Shapira and lightly injured her father, Avner, who live in the nearby outpost of El Matan. One of t...
By Ben Sales TEL AVIV (JTA)-In the sun-parched fields near where the largest oil spill in Israeli history poured millions of liters of crude oil into the desert on Dec. 4, an ambitious effort is underway to help reduce global dependency on petroleum for energy. Known as the Eilot Belt, the area is the site of Israel's largest solar energy field. It's the locus of an effort to provide by next year the daytime energy needs for the area's 55,000 residents and all their energy needs by 2020. The... Full story
Bassem Eid, a Palestinian human rights activist, has launched a crusade against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), tasked with providing “assistance and protection” for five million Palestinian refugees around the world. In Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, UNRWA gives food, aid, and runs schools. Eid said a recent study by well-known Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki shows that 70 percent of Palestinian refugees are seeking financial compensation rather than the “right of re... Full story
ADL: Killing of N.Y. police officers ‘heinous, senseless, shocking’ (JTA)—The Anti-Defamation League called the killing of two New York Police Department officers a “heinous, senseless and shocking assault.” The officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, were shot in the head through the window of their patrol car in Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon. Shortly before the killings, the gunman, identified as Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, threatened to shoot two “pigs” in retaliation for death of Eric Garner at the hands of police officers in July. “I’m pu... Full story
LUGANSK, Ukraine (JTA)-In an unheated synagogue with no running water, a dozen Jews are trying to keep warm as temperatures here veer toward the single digits. Not moving too much helps keep the warmth under their thick coats, they say, a technique developed as the group gathered at least once a week to maintain a sense of community in a city torn by ongoing conflict between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian army. "We usually stay for about two hours," says Igor Leonidovich, the synagogue's... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)-This government was supposed to be different. During the last election campaign in 2012, Israelis seemed to tire of the existential issues that have plagued the country for decades. Barely anyone talked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Long-simmering social tensions over the rising cost of living and the economic burdens of the underemployed haredi Orthodox community were going to finally get their due. The Knesset's arrivistes-former television personality Yair Lapid and... Full story
The following is a speech by Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor delivered to the UN General Assembly on Nov. 24. Ambassador Prosor is Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations. Mr. President, I stand before the world as a proud representative of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. I stand tall before you knowing that truth and morality are on my side. And yet, I stand here knowing that today in this Assembly, truth will be turned on its head and morality cast aside. The fact of... Full story
Settlements or Jewish communities? West Bank or Judea and Samaria? East Jerusalem or eastern Jerusalem? Those are some of the language choices that journalists covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are faced with each day-and those choices should not be taken lightly, experts say. "It's the terminology that actually defines the conflict and defines what you think about the conflict," says Ari Briggs, director of Regavim, an Israeli NGO that works on legal land use issues. "Whereas... Full story
(JNS.org) The national unity government signed by Hamas and Fatah last spring has ended, according to a Hamas spokesman. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that the six-month unity government has expired and that negotiations between the two Palestinian factions should resume, Ma’an News reported. However, Faisal Abu Shala, a senior Fatah official, disputed Hamas’ claim that the interim government would expire after six months, saying, “If the Hamas movement has retracted the reconciliation agreement and the termination of rivalry that is a... Full story
Syria says Israeli planes hit military sites near Damascus JERUSALEM (JTA)—The Syrian military claimed that Israeli planes attacked military sites near Damascus. The attacks, also reported on Syrian television, took place on Sunday night, the military said, according to a report by the Syrian state news agency, SANA. Israeli planes are reported to have hit several military facilities near Damascus International Airport and in Dimas, located north of Damascus near the border with Lebanon. Syrian state television reports said that there were no c... Full story
As international negotiators departed Vienna with a final deal on Iran's nuclear program still elusive, the commander of the widely-feared Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) threatened to eliminate the State of Israel by "conquering Palestine." Fars news agency, an official mouthpiece of the Iranian regime, reported that Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Commander of the IRGC, declared in Tehran that "Americans have very clearly surrendered to Iran's might and this is obvious in their... Full story
JERUSALEM-U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro visited the Har Nof Synagogue in Jerusalem, the scene of the Nov. 18 terror attack. The ambassador prayed in memory of all of the victims of the attack, including saying the Kaddish prayer for the departed and for peace. At the conclusion of the prayer service, the ambassador received a first-hand account of the terror attack from United Hatzalah emergency responders who were first on scene. After witnessing first-hand the scene of the terror... Full story
