Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1785 - 1809 of 2213
Israel’s Security Cabinet: No negotiations with gov’t that includes Hamas JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel’s Security Cabinet unanimously decided not to negotiate with a Palestinian government that includes the terrorist organization Hamas. The Security Cabinet met Monday following the swearing-in of the Palestinian unity government. “Today, Abu Mazen said yes to terrorism and no to peace,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, referring to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. “This is the direct continuation of Abu Maz... Full story
JERUSALEM -A group of six olim (immigrants) from the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine landed in Israel Tuesday, May 27, following a fast-paced operation put into action by The Jewish Agency for Israel due to the battles surrounding the city's airport. Battles between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels in and around the civilian airport of Donetsk broke out Monday, May 26, following the country's presidential election. Due to the escalation, the airport was shut down, all outgoing and... Full story
BIRZEIT UNIVERSITY, SAMARIA—Aya Al Hindy’s red veil matches perfectly with her long red dress. A third-year student majoring in ethics and nutrition, she says women on campus feel more and more at home. “When you look at the past and where we are today, we have grown. But we are still in the growth stage,” Al Hindy told The Media Line. “We have not yet achieved our goals—that is, we have yet to be like developed states.” Birzeit University is just a 10-minute drive from Ramallah, the Palestinians’ financial and political capital. Some 70 percen... Full story
BRUSSELS (JTA)-Hunched over a small island of memorial candles for the victims of the attack on the Jewish Museum of Belgium, Paul Ambach is lost in thought. "Once again, Jewish blood in Belgium, which is no longer Belgium," said Ambach, a well-known Jewish musician from Antwerp, as he stared at the candles Sunday from a vigil for the four people killed by the unidentified gunman who opened fire at the museum the previous day. Ambach said he was also thinking about past attacks on Belgian Jews,... Full story
An Israeli news station has reported on a poll conducted by Professor Sammy Smooha of Haifa University showing that the acceptance of Israel by Israeli Arabs increased markedly between 2012 and 2013. Channel 10/Nana reported that the poll’s surprising results bucked conventional wisdom: The research shows that between 2012 and 2013 there was an increase in the percentage of Israeli Arabs recognizing Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state, and Israel’s right to maintain a Jewish majority. Similarly, the percentage of Arabs... Full story
(JNS.org) A group of Israeli runners taking part in a "peace run" was forced to drop out after Palestinian objections. The six Israelis were asked to drop out of Australian ultra-marathon runner Pat Farmer's 900-mile "peace run" from Lebanon to Jerusalem during a stretch through Judea and Samaria due to objections by the Palestinian Olympic Committee. Farmer said he was "not happy" about the move because it went against the spirit of the run. The Israeli runners, whose participation was... Full story
ROME (JTA)-With a rabbi and a Muslim sheik as his travel companions, Pope Francis headed to the Middle East with what he hoped to be a powerful message of interfaith respect. It was the first time that leaders of other faiths were part of an official papal delegation. The aim was to send "an extremely strong and explicit signal" about interfaith dialogue and the "normality" of having friends of other religions, chief Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi told reporters. Starting last... Full story
Far-right parties gain in European elections (JTA)—Far-right parties across Europe won an increased share of the vote in elections for the European Parliament. Centrist, pro-European Union parties won a majority of Sunday’s vote led by the conservative European People’s Party. Far-right parties made significant gains, however, in France, the United Kingdom and Greece, among other nations. In Greece, the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party finished third despite a government crackdown on its leadership and will send three representatives to the Europ... Full story
(Israel Today)-Israeli security forces have arrived in Nigeria to aid in the search for up to 200 young Christian girls recently abducted by the radical Islamist group Boko Haram. On Monday, May 12, international media was abuzz after the publication of a video showing many of the captive girls dressed in Muslim garb and reciting passages from the Koran. In the video, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau says the girls will be held and continued to be forcibly converted to Islam until jailed... Full story
By Deputy Knesset Chairman MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud) outlined his national plan while in Toronto for Israeli Independence Day, speaking at an event sponsored by the Jewish Defense League and Toronto Zionist Council. Feiglin called for reconnecting the young generation with the knowledge that it is part of a long historical chain from the days of the Patriarch Abraham, and that it is a “light unto the nations” not just in the field of hi-tech, but rather in terms of the values and spiritual message it has for humanity, reports Shalom Tor... Full story
(JNS.org) A new national poll reveals that two-thirds of Americans side with the Israeli perspective over the Palestinian perspective in assessing blame for the recent collapse of the U.S.-brokered peace talks. In a poll of 1,595 likely voters that was commissioned by The Israel Project, when presented with a statement that each side in the peace talks blamed the other for the negotiations’ failure, 67 percent of respondents said they agreed more with Israel’s point of view and 33 percent sided with the Palestinian Authority (PA). Reg... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-A lot of people around the world hate the Jews. That's the main finding of the Anti-Defamation League's largest-ever worldwide survey of anti-Semitic attitudes. The survey, released Tuesday, found that 26 percent of those polled-representing approximately 1.1 billion adults worldwide-harbor deeply anti-Semitic views. More than 53,000 people were surveyed in 102 countries and territories covering approximately 86 percent of the world's population. "Our findings are sobering but,... Full story
Two U.S. congressmen participated in a fact-finding mission of the Temple Mount last week. Congressmen Andrew Harris (R- Maryland) and Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) and their wives witnessed firsthand how non-Muslims are discriminated against at the holy site. Rabbi Chaim Richman, international director of the Temple Institute led the group, pointing out religious and historical landmarks along the way. The group witnessed how outwardly looking Jewish groups are singled out and accompanied by both Jo... Full story
Maccabi Tev Aviv upsets its way to Euroleague basketball crown ROME (JTA)—Maccabi Tel Aviv upset favored Real Madrid to win the Euroleague basketball championship. Maccabi defeated the Spanish squad, 98-86, in overtime on Sunday night in Milan in the title game. Tyrese Rice led the Israeli club with 26 points, including 14 in overtime. The game was tied at 73 following regulation. A huge contingent of Israelis traveled to Italy for the game—some estimates said at least 10,000. Many of the Maccabi fans dressed in the team’s yellow and waved... Full story
(ByALGEMEINER)—Al-Quds University Professor Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi, who was maligned for bringing Palestinian Arab students to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp, was expelled from the school’s teacher’s union last week, according to a copy of the letter posted to the Facebook page of a colleague. Rima Najjar, an assistant professor of English Literature at Al Quds, headlined her Facebook post: “Dr. Mohammad Dajani’s union membership at Al-Quds University has been suspended because of his visit to Auschwitz.” She wrote, “The attach... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)-When Moshe Friedman turned 31, he made what was for him a radical decision: He left school and launched a start-up. Plenty of Israelis jump from graduate school to the high-tech sector, but for Friedman the leap was longer. A descendant of rabbis, he had studied at leading haredi Orthodox schools where many of his peers would spend decades, never intending to work. Friedman soon found himself caught between two worlds. Largely secular venture capitalists were reluctant to fund... Full story
Hadassah hospital recovery plan calls for cuts, bailout TEL AVIV (JTA)—A recovery plan for Jerusalem’s bankrupt Hadassah Medical Organization calls for an additional $869 million in funding and cuts to the hospital’s services. The plan, submitted Sunday by the court-appointed trustees managing the recovery, would draw funding equally from the Israeli government and the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America, which owns the hospital. Under the plan, Hadassah would lay off 30 doctors and researchers, as well as hundreds of employe... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The best move for the Obama administration on the Middle East peace front may be to take a few steps back. That's what some observers are advising in the wake of the collapse of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The Palestinian unity talks mean that President Obama and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry have little choice but to take a wait-and-see approach, according to the Israeli and American experts interviewed by JTA. "The time has to be taken to see if the Fatah and Hamas... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA) - Nine months of negotiations were supposed to propel Israelis and Palestinians into a future of peace. Instead, the collapse of talks is threatening to make the future look much like the past. Israel's decision last week to suspend negotiations - a day after the signing of a reconciliation between the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas - has prompted both sides to resort to their old ways. For the Palestinians, that means focusing on... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A pox on both your houses, but when you want a cure, we’re still here. That’s the message the Obama administration is sending Israel and the Palestinians amid the deepening crisis in peace efforts. “What we haven’t seen is, frankly, the kind of political will to actually make tough decisions. And that’s been true on both sides,” Obama said Friday from South Korea. The president’s remarks followed Israel’s suspension of talks last week in response to a governance deal between the Palestine Liberation Organization and... Full story
(JTA) — A mayor from Brussels banned an event that Jewish groups have called a “summit meeting for anti-Semites.” Eric Tomas, the mayor of Anderlecht— one of 19 municipalities that make up the Brussels autonomous region of the federal Belgian state—on Sunday said he would ban the “European Congress of resistance,” saying it was a serious risk to public safety due to planned protests, the BBC reported. The event, which was scheduled for Sunday, was organized by Laurent Louis, a Belgian lawmaker with a record of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel s... Full story
Israeli prime minister, president to have private plane JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel’s Cabinet approved a plan to purchase a private plane for the country’s prime minister and president. At its weekly meeting Sunday, the Cabinet backed the recommendations of a public committee on the plane and the construction of a combined office and official residence for the prime minister in Jerusalem. The plane is expected to cost up to $20 million and the building about $188 million, according to Ynet. The prime minister currently must charter a plane for trips... Full story
(JNS.org) American global coffee giant Starbucks is reportedly in talks with the Israel-based SodaStream beverage-carbonation company to buy a 10-percent stake in the company, Globes reported. Sources indicate that both sides are close to announcing the deal, which would value SodaStream at $1.1 billion, 30 percent above its current market price of $850 million. According to the report, SodaStream is looking for a partnership similar to the one between coffee machine maker Green Mountain Coffee and Coca-Cola, where the two companies are... Full story
(JNS.org) President Barack Obama, whose administration already said it would deny a visa to newly appointed Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Hamid Aboutalebi, signed a law that bars Aboutalebi from entering the U.S. The U.N. headquarters is located in New York City. Aboutalebi was part of an extremist student group that stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, taking 52 U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days. The law signed by Obama bars entry into the U.S. by any proposed U.N. representative who has engaged in espionage or terrorism... Full story
PUERTO IGUAZU, Argentina (JTA)-The youthful group of 60 drew their chairs around tables strewn with jars of markers and the occasional Rubik's Cube, nearby chalkboards at the ready for jotting down big ideas. The conference hall was suffused with a can-do vibe that wouldn't have seemed out of place in Silicon Valley. But high-tech was not on the agenda. Instead, the crowd of social entrepreneurs and activists had come to a resort near the famous Iguazu Falls on the Argentina-Brazil border to... Full story
