Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1526 - 1550 of 3636
(JNS)—Israel and many Jewish organizations around the world have responded strenuously to counter the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement. They have taken a strong defensive position, arguing that Israel is being unfairly singled out. But how has Israel fared, and what is the best long-term strategy to combat anti-Israel boycotts? There is a case to be made that, thank God, Israel has fared well in many sectors, and that the best long-term business strategy may be to increase labeling and sharing successes. There are between 550 and 630 m... Full story
(BESA Center via JNS)—Like clockwork, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent observation that “the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not, per se, inconsistent with international law” was immediately denounced by the Jewish left. The head of the Reform Movement in North America, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, said that the U.S. government’s new position on Israeli settlements will undercut the fight against BDS and the delegitimization of Israel in the United States, specifically on college campuses. It’s not clear w... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—On Sunday, I joined tens of thousands of Jews and non-Jews who marched from downtown Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge in a show of commitment to fighting the recent violent rise of anti-Semitism. Last week, I stood in Jerusalem with thousands of Jews at the Siyum HaShas, a celebration of the seven-plus year achievement of the completion of the study of the entire corpus of the Talmud. Our gathering was just one of dozens held around the world. As I reflect on these two massive displays of Jewish unity, I cannot help but t... Full story
(JNS)—We’re still more than a month away from the first actual votes being cast in the Democratic presidential race. But an analysis piece published on the influential Politico website last week reminded observers of a possibility that many are ignoring: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders could win and ultimately become the nation’s first Jewish president. While generations of American Jews have dreamed of a day when one of their own won the White House, a Sanders’s presidency would actually be an unprecedented nightmare for Israel and Jewish interest... Full story
I remember it was the day after Christmas because I was struck and disappointed that my new friend had to work on Christmas. She was a Christian Israeli Arab and was working with an elderly Jewish philanthropist to counsel him on funding programs that would combat substance abuse in the Arab community. It was my first Christmas in Israel since moving to Israel. Everything was a new experience. We met in a conference room of a Nazareth hotel including Mr. Green, the philanthropist, my new friend as his adviser, representatives of the Arab... Full story
(JNS)—It’s no secret that Jewish kids on college campuses have been subjected to increasingly aggressive and intense intimidation, ranging from the placement of “eviction” notices on the doors of their dorm rooms to faculty members refusing to sign permission slips for students to study abroad in Israel. In an effort to ostracize Jewish students, those who believe in the right of the Jewish people to a homeland are prevented from joining organizations whose progressive values they support. The hostility comes against the backdrop of heighte... Full story
From Nov. 4-8, 2019, I spent four days in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) on an intensive experience meeting with leaders of Palestinian Civil Society. It was an incredibly challenging experience. One of the true highlights was listening to Ali Abu Awwad, the leader of Taghyeer, a Palestinian nonviolence peace movement designed to help Palestinians take responsibility for ensuring their future with their neighbor, the Jewish state of Israel. On Tuesday Jan. 14, at 7:30 p.m., Ali will be speaking at The Roth Family JCC about the Taghyeer... Full story
(JTA)—This is the first op-ed in a series of pieces about anti-Semitism and Jewish issues written by 2020 presidential candidates. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has sent five questions on the topic to all of the registered candidates from both parties. 1. Anti-Semitic hate crimes are currently on the rise across the United States. In 2018, there were two deadly shootings at synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, violent attacks now regularly plague the Jews of New York City and Jews continue to be the target of most religion-based hate crimes a... Full story
(JNS)—Chanukah’s popularity with American Jews was largely the result of a futile though determined effort to compete with Christmas. While enjoying freedom, prosperity and influence that was unprecedented in the history of the Diaspora, American Jews needed a holiday that would allow them to play a part in the annual December festivities without abandoning their identity altogether. That is why Chanukah has become far more important to American Jews that it was to their ancestors in Europe and elsewhere, who regarded it as a minor winter fes... Full story
(JNS)—The problem of anti-Semitic intimidation on American college campuses is serious, and hopefully, U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent executive order will help combat it. But an equally significant problem is the deeply entrenched anti-Israel bias in the lectures, discussions and even the student trips abroad that our sons and daughters are participating in at many universities today. Case in point: an upcoming trip to “Israel and Palestine” for students who attend American University in our nation’s capital. The official descripti... Full story
The head of the French Jewish community expressed fear that last week’s decision by prosecutors in Paris to excuse the murderer of a Jewish woman from a criminal trial symbolized a deeper reluctance to confront anti-Semitism among Muslims in France through legal means. In a forthright letter to Paris Attorney General Catherine Champrenault, Francis Kalifat—the president of CRIF, the representative organization of French Jews—intimated that the decision not to try Kobili Traore for the Apr. 4, 2017 torture and murder of Sarah Halimi, a 65-ye... Full story
On Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in a premeditated attack, two shooters opened fire inside a kosher deli in Jersey City, New Jersey, and murdered four people. The killers included a former member of a notoriously anti-Semitic group and, reportedly, a follower of Louis Farrakhan. It’s becoming obvious to most Jews that we are living in a state of siege. Practically every Jewish institution in America now needs significant security. College campuses have become hostile territory for Jewish students. Jews are murdered in Pittsburgh, San Diego, and Jerse... Full story
For millennia, the Jewish people have overcome darkness. We have prevailed against those who sought to destroy us in each generation, by carrying our beliefs, traditions, culture, and most importantly our strong sense of peoplehood forward. Chanukah, the festival of lights, is a reminder that each one of us can carry the torch and lead our communities out of darkness. And this flame can continue to glow when we are connected and dare to share the beauty of our people with the world around us. Early on in life, I had the unique opportunity to li... Full story
(JNS)—Left, right and sideways, Jews in America are facing a major dilemma: Whose side should we take? Do we take the conservative point of view and accept our duly elected Republican president as the Jews’ knight in shining armor? After all, President Donald Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognized the Golan Heights, pulled out of the Iran deal, pulled out of UNRWA, signed the Taylor Force Act, signed the executive order on anti-Semitism, and even has a Jewish daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren! During his State of the Uni... Full story
(JNS)—The past week clarified a lot of things about the state of the American Jewish community—and its antagonists. The two assailants who walked into the kosher supermarket in Jersey City on Tuesday and opened fire intentionally targeted Jews. The killers belonged to the black supremacist, virulently anti-Semitic “Black Hebrew Israelite” movement that claims its members are the true children of Israel and the Jews are satanic imposters. The shooting in Jersey City marked a predictable escalation of the anti-Semitic attacks being carried... Full story
The horrific attack at the Jewish market near Newark a few weeks ago was intended to be a massacre of Jewish children in a Jewish Day School next door to the kosher market. Because of some courageous police work the actual scene of the carnage was restricted to a kosher market adjacent to the Jewish Day School, saving the lives of dozens of children, but unfortunately resulting in the loss of life of a policeman pursuing the terrorist and two Jews and an Ecuadorian immigrant store worker in the store. Make no mistake about it. This was an act... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—When I was about 19 years old, I took my first trip to Europe. I marveled at its beauty, its culture, its history and its architecture. On this trip and many others that followed, I shed many tears as I visited the numerous synagogues, Jewish museums and areas of historical importance which commemorated the horrors and evil that were perpetrated upon the Jewish people in so many parts of the continent during the Holocaust. That initial trip to Europe and each of my many subsequent trips—first with friends, then my wife, and... Full story
(JNS)—U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo returned fire on Monday to a large group of House Democrats who lambasted him last month for declaring that Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria are not illegal. In a letter to Michigan Rep. Andy Levin, who led 106 of his colleagues to sign a joint complaint against what they called the “State Department’s unilateral reversal on the status of settlements, without any clear legal justification,” Pompeo picked apart each false claim lobbed by the likes of “Squad” members Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.),... Full story
(JNS)—As America suffers through an impeachment circus, Great Britain on Dec. 13 acted decisively, voting overwhelmingly for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party. The impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump had already given him a political boost (recall that Bill Clinton won a second term after an impeachment process), along with the jitters to some Democrats. The lesson of Johnson’s victory, however, “is screaming right in your face,” said Democratic strategist James Carville. Indeed, Democratic preside... Full story
Dear Editor: I encourage everyone to read the article “ Political left fights Trump’s fight against anti-Semitism.” Next I ask you to write a letter to President Donald Trump expressing your great appreciation in his signing an executive order requiring federal agencies dealing with allegations of anti-Semitism on campuses to consider the complaints in light of the “working definition of anti-Semitism... by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.” Send the letter to: President Donald Trump 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washingto... Full story
A rabbi explained the benefits of making aliyah before the Messiah sends out the final call, noting that the recent anti-Semitic mass shooting in Jersey City may have been an end-of-days endgame wake-up call for Jews to come home to Israel. In the wake of the anti-Semitic mass shooting in Jersey City, the fourth such shooting in 14 months, a group of rabbis redoubled their efforts in a project that calls on Jews in the exile to return home to Israel. Rabbi Pinchas Winston, a prolific end-of-days author, explained this in a video. He cited Tuv... Full story
(JNS)—Demographers have spent a great deal of time in recent decades trying to learn more about the changing demographics of American Jewry. But whatever else he has accomplished, President Donald Trump has, albeit unwittingly, gone above and beyond those efforts. In signing an executive order extending protections to Jewish students against anti-Semitic hate on college campuses due to vicious incitement and discriminatory actions promoted by the BDS movement, Trump has, in effect, provided us with a sanity test for Jews. It consists of the f... Full story
By Miriam Adelson (JNS)—The following is the prepared text of Dr. Miriam Adelson’s introduction of President Donald J. Trump at the Israeli American Council National Summit in Hollywood, Florida on Dec. 7, 2019: Shalom, dear friends. And thank you! Thank you all so much for coming together for another terrific national IAC event. And thank you, as always, for defending and promoting Israel, the United States and their eternal alliance. Thank you, left-wingers, and thank you, right-wingers. Thank you, liberals, and thank you, conservatives. Tha... Full story
Regardless of how Jewish Americans feel about U.S. President Donald Trump—whether they view him as a menace to democracy (I do), or whether they feel deep gratitude to him as a defender of the Jewish state (I do)—one thing is certain: Tiny though Jews may be in number, their undying loyalty to the Democratic Party, coupled with the disproportionate imprint they are having on these impeachment proceedings, is both a perfect storm and a winning recruitment pitch for anti-Semites everywhere. Hopefully, it won’t disrupt the otherwise frien... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Eight unassuming gourmet latkes have become the latest controversy on Jewish Twitter. A recent holiday issue of Food & Wine magazine featured a piece titled “8 Ways to Make the Best Potato Latkes of Your Life.” The problem? Two of those luxe latkes featured decidedly non-kosher toppings. One latke calls for both shrimp and squid, foods that are biblically forbidden to kosher-keeping Jews. The other features a combination of brisket and creme fraiche—these ingredients can be kosher on their own, but consuming dishes contain... Full story
