Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1950 - 1974 of 2213
JERUSALEM-The changing nature of the American Jewish community has been a much-debated topic ever since the release of the recent Pew Research Center survey, whose findings revealed rising assimilation and intermarriage rates. The Jewish Federations of North America's (JFNA) annual General Assembly, which took place in Jerusalem this year, provided a chance to place that debate within the context of Israel-Diaspora relations. "We are now undergoing a real historical change," Natan Sharansky, Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for...
JERUSALEM-The changing nature of the American Jewish community has been a much-debated topic ever since the release of the recent Pew Research Center survey, whose findings revealed rising assimilation and intermarriage rates. The Jewish Federations of North America's (JFNA) annual General Assembly, which took place in Jerusalem this year, provided a chance to place that debate within the context of Israel-Diaspora relations. "We are now undergoing a real historical change," Natan Sharansky, Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for...
Former Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently urged South African Jews to immigrate to Israel, following incendiary comments by that country’s international relations minister. Writing on his Facebook page, Lieberman said the South African government is creating an anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic atmosphere, which means that a pogrom against the country’s Jews is now all-but inevitable. “I call on all the Jews still living there to immigrate to Israel without delay, before it’s too late,” he stated emphatically. Last Friday, South Af...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—It looks like a futuristic salon hair dryer. Connected to a computer by a bright orange strip, the half-cube with rounded corners sits comfortably atop the head, a coil of wires resting on the skull. As a doctor stands at the computer, the patient gets comfortable. A few seconds later, a brief electromagnetic pulse hits the head. Do this every weekday for six weeks, doctors tell Alzheimer’s patients, and you’ll feel your brain come back to life. The technique, known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, uses elect...
Liberman nears reappointment as foreign minister JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel’s Cabinet approved the reappointment of Avigdor Liberman as foreign minister. Following the approval on Sunday, Liberman’s reappointment now goes before the full Knesset, which is set to follow suit. The head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party will be sworn in on Monday. Liberman was acquitted last week on a charge of fraud and breach of trust, clearing the way for a return to his old post. The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled Nov. 6 that Liberman did not unreasonably advance...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed his hard line against Iran’s nuclear program in an address to the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly in Jerusalem. Speaking Sunday on the opening night of the G.A., Netanyahu also repeated his demand that in order for Israel to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, Palestinian leadership must recognize Israel as a Jewish state. He finished by calling for a continued strong bond between Israel and the North American Jewish community. On Iran, Netanyahu cri...
By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA)-The Obama administration may be on a collision course with pro-Israel advocates over an intensified sanctions bill that the White House fears may scuttle negotiations to resolve the standoff over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs support a bill, passed in July by the House of Representatives, that would sanction entities...
(JNS.org) The U.S. government is asking pro-Israel activists to reduce their public support for more sanctions on Iran just prior to another round of discussions on the issue between Iranian and world leaders. White House officials met with Jewish organizations including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the American Jewish Committee, and the Anti-Defamation League last Tuesday. According to the Washington Free Beacon, a pro-Israel official who attended the briefing said that the Obama administration does not "want the new...
KIEV, Ukraine (JTA)-The explosion that ripped through Vadim Rabinovich's luxury SUV in central Kiev was strong enough to send a shock wave from the parking lot up to his third-floor office in the heart of the Ukrainian capital. "It was a shock for a day or two," Rabinovich said, "and then I moved on." The 60-year-old media mogul and Jewish philanthropist views the March 4 explosion as an attack on his life. He has accused Andrey Derkach, a businessman and former politician, of being...
Tigers pick Brad Ausmus, Israel’s manager in WBC bid, as new skipper NEW YORK (JTA)—Brad Ausmus, who managed the Israeli national team’s bid for the World Baseball Classic, was named the manager of the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers announced the hiring of Ausmus, 44, on Sunday, making him the only Jewish manager in Major League Baseball. Ausmus was a catcher for four teams in his playing days. His Israel team failed to qualify for the World Baseball Classic in 2012, losing to Spain, 9-7, in 10 innings in the final game of the qualifying tourn...
MAFRAQ, Jordan (JTA)-The purple plastic sacks fill two rooms in the otherwise sparsely furnished headquarters of a Jordanian NGO, awaiting distribution to Syrian refugees already lined up on the sidewalk. They contain an array of staple dry goods-lentils, pasta, powdered milk, tea-as well as a range of hygiene products like soap and detergent, enough for 250 refugee families. But before the goods were handed out, one thing will be removed-the word "Jewish." Going sack by sack with a pair of...
With the close of its campaign year, Jewish National Fund just announced that its annual 2013 campaign topped $121 million, the largest campaign in its history. In addition to a strong annual campaign, JNF is the recipient of an estate gift of more than $60 million from the estate of John Boruchin, perhaps the most significant gift in the 112-year history of the organization. The announcements catapult JNF forward after 10 years of remarkable campaign achievements and tangible accomplishments in Israel that include adding 12 percent to...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Armed with a powerful New York public relations outfit and a pledge to commemorate the mass deportation of Hungarian Jewry, the Hungarian government is preparing to challenge what it says is an inaccurate image of a country lax in confronting home-grown extremism. Ferenc Kumin, an adviser to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban who handles international communications, reached out to JTA last week to counter what he says are unfair perceptions of his government’s treatment of Jews and other minorities. “In the American publi...
YEKATERINBURG, Russia (JTA)-Growing up in one of the Soviet Union's richest cities, Elena Chudnovskaya never imagined that she would be raising her daughter in a place so full of drug addicts that "the flowerbeds became strewn with syringes." But that is what became of her downtown apartment block after the collapse of communism, when soaring unemployment and the proximity to drug-producing countries unleashed a narcotics epidemic of alarming proportions in this district capital of 1.3 million...
WASHINGTON (JTA)- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping the enemy of one's enemy truly does become a friend. In recent years, Netanyahu has said the enmity for Iran shared by Israel and the Arab states could become a spur to regional reconciliation. Last week, in a speech to the Knesset, he noted the "many issues" on which Israel and the Arabs have shared interests could open up "new possibilities," including a peace accord with the Palestinians. But while experts say that...
Five Jews violently attacked in Sydney SYDNEY (JTA)—Five Jews were hospitalized after being beaten in what was described by an Australian Jewish leader as the worst incident of anti-Semitic violence in Sydney in many years. Eight males, mostly teenagers, reportedly taunted the religious Jews—four from the Behar family—with slurs as they were walking home in suburban Bondi from Sabbath dinner after midnight Saturday. A violent confrontation ensued, some of which was caught on closed circuit TV cameras. Security guards from a nearby night...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel’s peace talks with the Palestinians remain mostly shrouded in secrecy, but one thing is certain: The Palestinian prisoner release that paved the way for their resumption is increasing tensions in Israel’s governing coalition. Israel completed the second stage of the four-part release on Tuesday, setting free 26 prisoners who had committed crimes—mostly murders—before the Israeli-Palestinian peace process began in 1993. The first stage of the prisoner release occurred in August. The government approved the release i...
Former U.S. President George W. Bush made a surprise appearance at the 50th anniversary tribute gala of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in New York, saying Iran cannot be trusted when it says its nuclear program has peaceful intentions. One attendee of the event, speaking anonymously because Bush’s comments were off the record, said Bush quoted from his May 2008 speech to the Israeli Knesset. In that speech—one that he called a highlight of his pre...
NEW YORK—Birthright Israel Foundation has elected Joshua Nash, a leader in the New York Jewish and philanthropic community and member of its board of directors, as the next board chairman succeeding Dan Och, who has served as chairman since 2008. The Foundation is the U.S.-based fundraising arm of the highly successful Taglit- Birthright Israel program, which has sent more than 400,000 young Jewish adults on free, 10-day educational trips to Israel since 2000. “We are honored to have som...
(JNS.org)—Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will lead more than 30,000 Christian pilgrims on an upcoming trip to Israel. While in Israel, President Jonathan, who is the first sitting Nigerian Christian president to visit Israel, is expected to sign a Bilateral Air Services Agreement between Nigeria and Israel, making it easier for Christian pilgrims to visit, AllAfrica.com reported. According to Nigeria state media, the first round of 2,000 Christian pilgrims began arriving Oct. 19, while P...
(JNS.org) Facebook announced the acquisition of the Israeli mobile analytics startup, Onavo, as part of a larger plan to reduce the number of people without Internet access. Facebook will also turn Onavo’s Tel Aviv office into the company’s first Israeli headquarters. Founded in 2010, Onavo focused on intelligence concerning mobile application data. According to the tech site AllThingsD, the services of Onavo are in line with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Internet.org initiative, which aims...
(JNS.org) Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was quoted in the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar as saying that he could “shut Israel up” with or without chemical weapons. Assad—whose country has seen more than 100,000 deaths in the Syrian civil war, including more than 1,400 in what the U.S. said was a chemical attack on civilians—also expressed frustration over not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his agreement on the removal of his chemical weapons stockpile. Instead, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons won the prize f...
(JNS.org)—A new survey shows that many European Jews hide their faith due to fear of anti-Semitism. The online poll by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights reveals that 27 percent of all respondents blamed rising anti-Semitism across the European continent on Muslims. About the same percentage of respondents blamed anti-Semitism on individuals with left-wing political convictions, and 19 percent blamed those with right-wing beliefs. “Preliminary findings already show that three-quarters of respondents feel that anti-Semitism has...
(JNS.org) Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on the topic of a future Palestinian state that there will be “no peace without Jerusalem as its capital.” “I will not compromise on the 1967 borders as the border for our Palestinian state; there is no peace without Jerusalem as its capital,” Abbas said on Palestinian TV, reported WAFA, the official Palestinian Authority news agency. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained that Jerusalem, which was divided by Jordani...
An apparent antidote to the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is coming from a once unlikely source. Chinese magnate Li Ka-Shing, among Asia’s richest businessmen, recently donated $130 million to Israel’s Technion University, as part of a joint venture with Shantou University that will establish the Technion Guangdong Institute of Technology (TGIT). The gift, one of the largest ever to an Israeli university, is indicative of a pervasive deepening in the con...
