Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) — I’ve spent the last year traveling the world — two trips each to Israel and Ukraine, along with time in Bulgaria, Ghana, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Georgia and beyond — and I have new eyes for the situation we Jews find ourselves in. We face skyrocketing antisemitism, an agonizing war with Hamas and its allies, and the grim Whac-A-Mole of so many other pressing concerns. And in early October, we’re somehow meant to endure a Jewish New Year that will force us to confront the chasm between our prayers and our reality. Attemptin...
(FLAME via JNS) — Jewish students from the City University of New York recently attending a Hillel welcome-back dinner were surrounded by masked, screaming protesters who banged on windows and chanted, “Terrorist! Terrorist! Terrorist! All Zionists are racist! Dogs off campus!” The protesters shoved pictures of murdered babies in students’ faces and assaulted a Hillel staffer. Campuses are already paying the price of last school year’s weak-kneed, appeasing administration responses, as violence and threats by radicals rachet up again. Th...
As the United Nations General Assembly convenes in New York this week, all eyes will be on Lebanon, and all daggers will be drawn to blame Israel. But in looking to ascribe blame, paraphrasing Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, they should look no further than their own backyard. To that end, I launched a plan to send mirrors to each of the UN member states (and observers) to mount behind the microphone and their country’s name, so when they sit in the General Assembly and blame Israel, they can see where the real blame lies. Let’s be clear, eve...
(JNS) — Jewish parents have always worried about their kids, but since Oct. 7, fears and concerns have been justified and amplified in an America where antisemitism is running rampant. When it comes to university choices in North America, any Jew who considers enrolling in Harvard University, Columbia University, the University of Michigan, New York University, the University of California, Los Angeles, or some of the other schools that day after day sees horrific antisemitism really needs to rethink their priorities. You are sending your c...
(JNS) — It’s a busy time for the media. Not only is it election season, but in between campaigning for Kamala, the media also has to carry water for the multiple Islamic terrorist groups attacking Israel. After almost a year of turning Hamas press releases into headlines (“Gaza Ministry of Health claims 24 children killed in assault on rocket launcher school”), the media hurriedly began turning Hezbollah press releases into headlines (“Lebanese government caims Hezbollah leaders killed by pagers were really 12-year-olds”), and now with the ar...
(JNS) — For decades, Jewish Republicans have talked about a realignment whereby Jews will abandon their traditional, almost reflexive support for the Democratic Party and embrace the Republican Party. Historically, Jewish voters have leaned heavily Democratic due to the party’s association with liberal values, which resonate with most Jews who identify as liberal or progressive. Policy Jews say that Israel is not the most critical issue, but they are influenced if one candidate is perceived as hostile—as was the case, for example, with Jimmy...
By The strength and survivability of the Jewish people has always been their ability to simultaneously respect their rich history, to appreciate the gift of life, and to embrace optimism about the future. Coincidently, the Torah’s narrative also speaks to us in the past, the present and the future, bestowing a sense of eternity within our DNA. The Torah begins with a history of the evolutionary creation of the universe and our planet Earth (time frame of 6 biblical days); including the creation of humans. God “rested” but did not “stop” on the...
(JNS) — I was on site when a mob of Islamists and leftists attacked the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles. The synagogue was besieged and Jews were prevented from entering. Multiple Jewish community members were assaulted while the police for the most part did nothing. No arrests were made of the attackers who came armed and masked. While the media tried to once again cover up or redirect blame for the violence, there was enough outrage that a few L.A. legislators actually attempted to introduce bills banning more of the same. Who would p...
(JNS) — The current negotiations between Hamas—an Iran-supported, internationally designated foreign terrorist organization—and Israel, a legitimate democratic nation-state, is a puzzlement. About 3,800 Hamas terrorists were among the 6,000 Gazans who invaded Israel on Oct. 7 and committed barbaric, inhumane atrocities. Every inhumane act committed, including the taking of hostages and the firing of thousands of indiscriminate rockets into civilian Israeli towns and cities, is against every law of humanity, conduct under the laws of war and m...
(JNS) — Hezbollah began a massive attack against Israel on Aug. 25. They planned to launch more than 7,000 missiles and drones to overwhelm Israel’s defense systems. Satellite surveillance images of the movement and loading of ballistic missiles into launchers gave Israel about 15 minutes advanced notice of the attack. To prevent an attack that would probably have overwhelmed its aerial-defense systems, Israel sent 100-plus fighter jets to destroy as many of Hezbollah’s rocket-launcher barrels as possible. These barrels were aimed at north...
(JNS) — I’m a fan of the Free Press podcast “Honestly.” It’s one of my regular sources of media. The even-handed coverage given to all topics is invigorating. But as someone who lives in Judea and Samaria, the episode titled “The Palestinian ‘Traitor’ Risking Everything to Speak Out” lacks some necessary context. For those who haven’t listened to the episode, I highly recommend it. The interviewee has both an unbelievable story and a fascinating philosophy on life. Since speaking out against the atrocities of Oct. 7, he’s been labeled a traitor...
The question was wrong, but the answer was wronger. Upon returning to the White House from his vacation, a reporter asked President Biden, “Mr. President, do you think it’s time for Prime Minister Netanyahu to do more on this issue? Do you think he is doing enough (to free the hostages)?” Biden responded, “No.” The timing of the question, and Biden’s response, were significant. This was the day after the funeral of American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin in Jerusalem. Hersh was one of more than 250 people kidnapped by Hamas terrorists...
(JNS) — Israel devotes a larger proportion of its GDP to arms and security exports than any other country on Earth. That devotion makes it unique in another way. More than 80 percent of Israel’s arms exports support the world’s democracies, including small democracies that need to deter much larger tyrannical regimes. By acting as these democracies’ armory and their intelligence shield, Israel plays an outsized role in the Western world’s defense against threats that become more palpable by the day. Israel is David confronting the world’s G...
(JNS) — Why is Amalek considered the archenemy of Israel? We’ve had no shortage of vile and murderous enemies in our time. What makes Amalek so fiendishly unique that even the Nazis were symbolically referred to as Amalekites? In last week’s Torah reading, Ki Tetze, we find no less than 74 biblical commandments, the highest number of any parshah. It represents some 12 percent of the 613 commandments of the Torah in this one weekly reading. The final item on the agenda is about the nation of Amalek—specifically, the obligation to remembe...
(JNS) — Israel is bringing light to the world when it is out front confronting evil, as it is doing with its war with Hamas. The ultimate future of the Middle East rides on Israel not only winning the war in Gaza but successfully battling the demonic leadership of Iran which controls every move of its surrogates as a well-trained puppeteer. Let’s be clear, this is a regional war. The complexity of that confrontation may well override the immediate demands of individuals and transform the horizon. Israel faces an existential threat to its ver...
As an Iranian American, having lived most of my life under the misogynist evil extremism of the Islamic regime, there are many things that bring me back to the traumas in the land of my birth. Waking up to the news this week of six Israeli hostages being executed by Hamas in cold blood reminds me of the period I served a death sentence in Evin prison when Islamic regime agents massacred thousands. The solution for peace in Gaza is not negotiating with the terrorists, but to cut off the head of the octopus in Iran, and to eliminate its...
(Jerusalem Strategic Tribune via JNS) — The principal product of Washington, D.C., is words. They come in three different kinds of packages: memoranda, by which government departments and organizations communicate internally; op-ed articles, by which these various groups communicate with each other and the public; and reports, usually compiled under the auspices of people with expertise in the subject being addressed. All three types are highly perishable. Almost none reaches a broad audience or is read more than a few days after it appears. E...
(JNS) — Israel’s enemies have a sinister proclivity to attack on sacred holidays. Many expected the Iranian retaliation for the murder of Hamas terror leader Ismail Haniyeh to come on Tisha B’Av, the Jewish holiday commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples. Astonishingly, that night, I had a most restful sleep, although disturbed by a foreboding dream. I envisioned the destruction of modern-day Israel, the 75 years of Israel’s miraculous splendor standing in ruins and ash, as it was after the devastation of the ancient...
(JNS) — Turning out for a barbecue is nice; showing up for Israel is essential. The University of Maryland Hillel rightly took pride in hosting a back-to-school barbecue that attracted 1,500 Jewish students. However, the event was partly overshadowed by the university administration’s unconscionable decision to allow Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace to hold an affair on Oct. 7. After facing significant backlash and unfavorable publicity—the only thing besides money that moves administrators—UMD reversed its approva...
Recently, my social media has been overwhelmed with videos filmed by people on safari in Africa, capturing the moment when carnivorous animals attack, kill, and devour their prey. It’s fascinating to watch the instincts of the animals, as if they have taken a course in survival but, in fact, are intuitive. Projecting what it seems to me, sometimes the suffering of the animal being attacked and torn into pieces looks particularly cruel. While I have thought about human parallels this week, that cruelty seems so particularly relevant. This w...
(JNS) — As we mark one year since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, it’s impossible not to reflect on the profound implications of that day—not just for Israel, but for the 7 million Jews in America that make up half of the world’s Jewish population. The attack, often described as “the largest pogrom since the Second World War,” is a grim reminder of the persistent threats that the Jewish people face, no matter where we reside. The public response in America, where the Jewish community’s mourning was met with “protests” ac...
Funerals and mourning are always difficult to experience, especially the last few days with the murder of the hostages and the police officers. The personal pain of the families is a horrible, wrenching pain for all Jews. Hamas has standing orders to kill any hostage if liberation is near. The left has turned the meaning of funerals and mourning upside down. They have transformed the war crimes of the murderers into War Crimes committed by the victim’s own Government. Murdering POWs and hostages is a War Crime. No one is saying that. As the l...
(JNS) — “Let reason go before every enterprise and counsel before any action.” Ecclesiastes 32:23 At time of writing, negotiations between Israel and Hamas on a potential “ceasefire” are seemingly set to continue despite Hezbollah’s attempted attack on Israel followed by massive rocket fire and statements by officials that the ceasefire talks are near collapse. Even if an agreement is reached, however, it will almost certainly fail because Hamas still regards all of Israel as “Occupied Palestine.” For both Israel and the “international...
(JNS) — It’s very troubling that President Joe Biden said during his Democratic National Convention speech that “those [anti-Israel] protesters out in the street, they have a point.” Similarly, during her interview with The Nation in July, Vice President Kamala Harris stated that the anti-Israel “protesters” “are showing exactly what the human emotion should be, as a response to Gaza. … I understand the emotion behind it.” What exactly is the point of anti-Israel, anti-American terror-affiliated rioters? (“Protesters” is way too mild a term f...
(JNS) — On Aug. 18, a Palestinian Arab male blew himself up in central Tel Aviv with enough explosives to murder hundreds of Israelis but managed only to end his own life. Hours afterward, Hamas claimed responsibility and pledged more such attacks. For us, almost 23 years to the day when a Palestinian suicide bomber murdered our teenage daughter, Malki, this served as a jolting reminder that the scourge of Palestinian human-bomb attacks is still here. For Israelis and Americans, the “failed” bombing is a wake-up call, a harbinger of fresh...
