Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1626 - 1650 of 3636
(JNS)—The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, commonly known as AIPAC, recently made headlines in almost every major media outlet when it wrongly and publicly criticized Israel’s just and proper decision to refuse to admit Jew-hating Israelophobes Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for a trip to so-called “Palestine” sponsored by a terror-promoting group Miftah. The congresswomen’s trip was designed to demonize Israel with numerous propaganda events to incite hatred and boycotts, divestment and sanctions against I... Full story
Dear Editor: Your discussion of the J-Street version of Birthright trip to Israel records at length the impressions of three young ladies of their visit to the Holy Land (see “3 participants share what they learned on J Street’s first alternative to Birthright trip” in the Aug. 23 issue). All they remember is a village with water problems alleviated by the Israeli armed forces even though the population is entirely Arab. The second impression is the ladies’ concern over the many border checks imposed on the Arabs. The latter, of course,... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—On Sept. 4, Israel commemorated the 90th anniversary of the 1929 Hebron massacre, during which Arab residents slaughtered their Jewish neighbors, leading to a Jewish exodus for the next half century. Since then, Hebron has been a battleground, both literally and for the Zionist narrative. Split between heavily guarded Israeli- and Palestinian-controlled areas, the hotly contested West Bank city is home to approximately 215,000 Palestinians and about 1,000 Jews. The city where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob a... Full story
In case you missed it, Israel will be holding national elections on Sept. 17. Yes, this is the second time this year. Hopefully the outcome will not be a stalemate like last time. Please enjoy this series of articles offering insight beyond whether Bibi will be elected that is all relevant to that question that you are probably not getting overseas and which ultimately, at least indirectly, is part of answering that question. (For background about the electoral system from prior to the election in April, please feel free to contact me,... Full story
Last week, I had the honor and privilege of traveling to Israel for the very first time, thanks to the American Israel Education Foundation. Every two years, AIEF sponsors a trip for freshman members of Congress to educate policy makers about Israel’s history, as well as the strong economic bond and strategic military alliance between our two nations. Israel is a critical ally of the United States of America, a bulwark of stability in an unstable region, and a true friend with shared democratic ideals. What a trip it was! I visited the Elah V... Full story
I cannot count my first 17 years as a Jew. My father inherited a hatred of Orthodoxy from his father, a dedicated Socialist. Therefore, I would not be bar mitzvahed until my 40s—but that’s another story. My Zionism and Judaism rose together in that Wave that swept the Jewish Community in 1948 with the founding of the Third Jewish Commonwealth. Suddenly our family was part of the Zionist rush most Jews felt in the founding of a Jewish State—a country of our own. My father suddenly became as ardent a Zionist as you could find. So, my intro... Full story
By Noa Lazimi JERUSALEM (JTA)—Fifty-two years ago, following the Six-Day War, Israel took control of the eastern part of this city. After annexing additional Arab villages to the north and south, it created what we know today as East Jerusalem, where approximately 200,000 Jews and 300,000 Arabs live. While Israel became the sovereign ruler of these territories, it did not fully integrate East Jerusalem and its Arab residents. A short stroll in the Arab neighborhoods today reveals a dire picture of decades-long neglect and lack of investment b... Full story
By Fiamma Nirenstein (JNS)—After Palestinian LGBT organization al-Qaws announced that it had held a gathering in the West Bank city of Nablus earlier this month to discuss gender pluralism in the city, the group was banned by the Palestinian Authority. The P.A. said the group’s activities were “contrary to the values of Palestinian society” and threatened to arrest its members. Not content with that, the P.A. proceeded to ban all activities designed to promote LGBT rights in its territory. Anti-gay prejudice is nothing new in the region.... Full story
(JNS)—Joint Arab List leader Ayman Odeh’s announcement that he would be willing to join, or at least support, a center-left government sent shock waves through the Israeli political system. The Zionist parties were predictably quick to discard the notion of cooperation with Odeh and his anti-Zionist faction. More noteworthy, however, was that some of Odeh’s Arab colleagues, members of the Balad Party for example, hastily rejected his comment, even dubbing them “unfortunate.” Odeh’s words, however, weren’t intended for Zionist politicians,... Full story
President Trump took issue with continued American Jewish support for the Democrats after Tlaib and Omar gave a press conference libeling Israel in furtherance of their anti-Jewish, BDS agenda. For his actions, he is again being falsely defamed as an anti-Semite. American Jews who wish to deny leftist anti-Semitism, pretend that BDS is primarily directed against Israel. After all, if the likes of Omar, Tlaib, AOC and the rest only hate Israel, then they aren’t anti-Semitic. They just hate Israeli Jews. But the truth is that BDS in America is di... Full story
(JNS)—It’s more than 30 years since pro-democracy student demonstrators were brutally crushed by Chinese security forces in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square—a graphic sign that while communism was in the process of collapsing elsewhere in the world, China was to be a bloody exception. The spirit of those 1989 protests has been revived in recent weeks on the streets of Hong Kong, where hundreds of thousands of protesters have been vigorously opposing Chinese attempts to impose the draconian laws that hold sway on the mainland. Because Hong Kong was a... Full story
(JNS)—Jewish and pro-Israel students soon heading to universities this fall are invariably wondering about more than living arrangements and course loads. Will students and faculty take real steps to rehabilitate the politicized campus climate? What will be the next steps and targets of the BDS movement against Israel? In the past few years, campus BDS success seemed to stagnate a bit. During the 2018-19 academic year, only two campuses passed BDS-inspired legislation while eight other attempts failed to earn sufficient support. Even when d... Full story
As the dust settles over the planned, canceled, re-scheduled and then canceled-again trip to Israel by Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, one thing comes to mind offering perspective on how this played out: The scene from “Argo” when the CIA affirms that “This is the best bad idea we have.” Why? Because no matter what had happened, Israel only had bad choices. Why the best bad option? Certainly, Israel could have handled its decision much better. But either way, they played into the hands of the media hungry rabid anti-Semites who dis... Full story
In an effort to cut carbon emissions from burials and cremations, the state of Washington, led by staunch environmentalist Governor Jay Inslee, became the first U.S. state to legalize human composting. To think, people can be criminally prosecuted for disrespecting a human corpse, a symbol of a once-living person. But the religion of Mother Earth now supersedes all cultural decency. We’ve already cemented the contempt for life at the front end. I thought we had evolved since the ancient Greek elders determined that only the strong newborns s... Full story
First, they praised the terrorist who murdered a U.S. senator’s niece. Then they were chosen by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib to organize her now-canceled trip to Israel. Tlaib’s outrageous choice of the pro-terrorist group “Miftah” to run her trip is a slap in the face of the United States Congress and deserves to be investigated by the House Ethics Committee. The fact that Rep. Tlaib chose Miftah to organizer her trip is no secret; it was widely reported by major news media. The problem is that nobody is explaining what “Miftah” really is. The... Full story
(JNS)—The furor in recent days over a viciously anti-Semitic article in a left-wing Belgian newspaper centered on the writer’s use of a mangled quote, attributed to the French-Jewish songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, about the impossibility of a God who could give his “chosen people,” so-called, such “ugly noses.” This boilerplate anti-Semitism, in keeping with the rest of the article by columnist Dimitri Verhulst, is the reason why the Flemish-language paper that published it, De Morgen, is now the subject of an investigation by the Belgian pol... Full story
If I were Israel’s prime minister, I’d have let repugnant U.S. Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib come to Israel, despite their hateful agenda and itinerary that would have been an unabashed anti-Israel propaganda tour. Israel is a strong country, vibrant democracy, and can stand up to the debate. There would have been no problem calling them out and challenging their anti-Semitic and anti-Israel lies at their every interview, comment, and tweet. We not only missed that opportunity, but we put the ball in their court to play a one... Full story
On the front page of the Aug. 2nd edition of this newspaper, a small article with large implications appeared with the headline, “A debt-free Federation is in sight.” I do not know if the article was written by a Heritage writer, was sent to the Heritage as a news release by the Federation or was authored by a public relations guru. The article was upbeat and was accompanied by a photo of the current executive director who categorized the event of satisfying the debt as “transform[ing] a daunting challenge into a most rewarding trium... Full story
(JNS)—Many parents of my age remember striving to be able to send their children to summer camp. Now, as grandparents, we see our own children doing the same. I believed then, as I do now, that summer camp is a time when children make new friendships—many of which last into their adult years—grow emotionally and learn what we call “people skills.” Somewhere in the boxes that accumulated over the years in our basement are videotapes of our five children at summer camp. We see our kids in various activities—playing baseball and basketball,... Full story
(JNS)—The slaughter of 19-year-old yeshivah student and Israel Defense Forces’ recruit Dvir Sorek from the Judea and Samaria community of Ofra was not exceptional. Palestinian terrorists with hatred in their hearts and weapons in their hands are integral to the Jewish state’s otherwise vibrant landscape. But this particular tragedy struck a nationwide nerve even among those who blame the so-called “occupation” for Palestinian violence, and consider citizens like Sorek to be illegally and immorally living in territory that should become pa... Full story
Dear Editor: In Mel Pearlman’s Aug. 9, article, “The myth of the two-state solution,” he says, “I support the two-state solution I described in the beginning of this column, but it will never become a reality if the nations of the world continue to engage in fantasy diplomacy and the pandemic of the new and old anti-Semitism currently infecting the world is not eradicated.” It is impossible to eradicate all forms of anti-Semitism. The Jewish people have been persecuted for 4,000 years with no end in sight. Many people would like to believe t... Full story
(JNS)—In the wake of the latest mass shootings to afflict America, some Jewish organizations and their leaders joined in the effort to place at least some of the blame for these atrocities on President Donald Trump. Rabbi Rick Jacobs of the Union of Reform Judaism reacted to the slaughter in El Paso, which was reportedly the work of a white-nationalist racist who claimed to be reacting to the “invasion” of the country by Hispanics, by pointing the finger directly at the president: “When will this president stop demonizing asylum seekers and imm... Full story
(JNS)—Given the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, I decided to reflect upon my own personal immigration story. At the outset, I want to compliment the president for sticking to his guns and doing more than any president of the United States to correct a very complex minefield of an issue. It is also important to point out over and over again that U.S. President Donald Trump made it patently obvious from the get-go that building a wall at the border with Mexico was one of his priorities. He was elected with this signature campaign promise. T... Full story
At the beginning of a recent trip to the U.S. I was privileged to find myself in the office of my Congressional Representative, Bonnie Watson Coleman, (NJ 12th District) discussing legislation related to providing security in the Middle East against the rising tide of Islamic extremism, and combatting anti-Semitism. I left the meeting hopeful, and grateful as an American to have the privilege to express my views with my elected representatives. Last week, my hopes were dashed when, in one of the most sweeping, nearly unanimous, and indeed... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—By the end of this year, my research and travels in the Middle East will have brought me through Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Kurdistan, as well as many visits to Capitol Hill. What I’ve learned from security, defense and intelligence officials is this: When Israelis and Arabs talk off the record, what they say differs markedly from their public statements. America policymakers are too often unaware of what Israeli and Arab experts and official say behind closed doors, even to one... Full story
