Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1776 - 1800 of 3636
(JNS)—The Palestinians have been busy for the past week demonstrating in word and deed that U.S. President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” will be dead on arrival. In an op-ed on Sunday in the official, Palestinian Authority-controlled daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, who served as national-affairs adviser to former P.A. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, launched an assault on the White House. While he was at it, he offended all people with special needs. As Palestinian Media Watch reported, Al-Ghoul wrote, “Anyone who looks at... Full story
If Jews had “magical powers to control people” as Ilhan Omar says, then she would be gone from Congress, not just the Foreign Affairs Committee because the “magical powers of the Jewish people” would have kicked her keister to the curb. Too bad the Jewish people don’t control others with money and “magical powers”—they wouldn’t have suffered as they have throughout history. Alas, I can’t kick her to the curb, but what has the Democratic Party done? Absolutely nothing. Pelosi has said that Omar’s anti-Semitic remarks were “not intentionally an... Full story
(JNS)—Perhaps you thought Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) had been so thoroughly rebuked by the media and fellow Democrats for her anti-Semitic tweets that her campaign against Israel and its supporters had been put on hold. Maybe you also thought the opprobrium thrown in her direction had both shamed her and caused her colleagues to shun her in the manner that is usually dished out to people caught in open expressions of hate. If so, you were wrong. Omar remains the toast of liberal Washington these days as her prominent placement on the cover of R... Full story
The Jewish community here in Central Florida should make its voice heard concerning the anti-Semitic slurs being spewn about in Congress as well as the appointment of Ilhan Omar to the Foreign Affairs Committee. One community member, Dr. Daniel Layish, has made his voice heard by one congressman. (He said he even got a human being to answer the phone with no waiting.) “Call Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) to encourage him to stay strong in his condemnation of Ilhan Omar,” Layish said. Rep. Engel is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Com... Full story
(JNS)—Why is anti-Semitism now out of control in the West? Jew-hatred, alas, is always with us. The most we can expect is that it is kept down by unequivocal social disapproval. What causes it to explode into an uncontrolled epidemic is the weakening of that powerful social stigma. After the Holocaust, the enormity of that crime was such that anti-Semitism went underground. Any such expressions that did occur were regarded as the province of cranks on the fringes of society who were accordingly shunned. What tells you the Jews are in trouble i... Full story
(JNS)—This July, Argentina’s Jewish community will mark the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people were murdered and hundreds more were seriously wounded. It is promising to be a wretched and depressing commemoration, frankly, because there is no reason to expect anything else. On July 18, 1994, a Renault utility truck packed with explosives smashed into the AMIA building in the busy downtown area of the Argentine capital, leaving a scene of absolute carnage in its wake. The bombing, whi... Full story
(JNS)—Like most victims of Palestinian Arab terrorism, Avraham Bromberg would have been completely forgotten if not for the persistence of the murderer’s many admirers and financial sponsors. Bromberg was just 20 years old when he was murdered. The same age as my daughter, Alisa, when she was murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists in 1995. Avraham was hitchhiking. In those days, all young Israelis hitchhiked. Nobody thought of it as a potentially lethal activity. A car with Israeli license plates stopped to give him a ride. The driver and his... Full story
On Feb. 21, 2019, in collaboration with Space X, NASA, and tracking facilities of other nations, an Israeli spacecraft, carrying scientific instruments to add to our knowledge of lunar science, was successfully launched into earth orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This spacecraft, named in Hebrew, “Beresheet,” meaning “Genesis,” is special. When, not if, it succeeds to soft-land on the moon in April, Israel will be in the company of the United States, Russia and China as the only nations on earth to acco... Full story
(JTA)—The next Israeli government may include terrorists that are barred from entering the United States. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crossed every moral line for political gain in Israeli politics last week when he brokered a merger of the religious nationalist Jewish Home party with Otzma Yehudit, the racist successor to the Kach and Kahane Chai parties, who advocated for the “transfer” of Arabs from Israel and the occupied territories. This completes the near total rehabilitation of Kahanists into mainstream Israeli politics, despi... Full story
I have been a part of the greater Orlando Jewish community for 31 years. Over those years, I have served our many community organizations in many capacities, both as a lay leader and professional. As an educator, mother and Jew, I have always had a particular affinity for the Jewish Academy of Orlando, formerly the Hebrew Day School. And in my continued support of the school, I have returned to a board position, in spite of my empty nest status. Recently, I have had the opportunity to be in school for some volunteering and I was so moved by wha... Full story
While the United Nations Interim Front in Lebanon has emphasized Israel’s protection from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, newfound evidence has demonstrated otherwise. UNIFIL is an international peacekeeping effort created to initiate Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 1978, but has evolved to promote stability within the Lebanese and Israeli governments. However, Hezbollah, an internationally recognized terrorist organization, has evidently resisted the porous authority of UNIFlL, due to their active construction of elaborate tunnels und... Full story
Dear Editor: I am a proud and ardent Zionist and have dedicated much of my adult life to serving these ideals and advancing these goals because I believe that ultimately this will better serve ALL of Israel’s citizenry, as well as support better relations between Israel and her neighbors. The recent decision by Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to embrace the racist Otzma Yehudit party along with National Union and the Jewish Home Party is as reprehensible as it is condemnable. If they succeed, this will bring into the Knesset, the inheritors of a... Full story
(JNS)—Last week former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni announced that she was dropping out of politics. Livni came as close to being prime minister as you can get without actually having the job more than once. But only a decade after leading her party to a first-place finish in the 2009 Knesset election, she is finally giving up. Insiders put her down as a difficult political partner. That’s the generally accepted answer to the question of why, after being part of so many coalitions, she was left standing when the music stopped in the... Full story
By Itzhak Levanon (JNS)—After eight years, the Foreign Ministry’s director general decided to keep Israeli embassy staff in Egypt over the weekend instead of returning them home. This was a welcome decision; the staff’s permanent presence in Cairo allows it to develop and maintain continuous diplomatic work, as expected of any embassy. The attack on the embassy by an enraged mob in late 2011 and the staff’s consequent hasty withdrawal left Israel without a building for its embassy, with a very minimal team in place, and diplomats who return... Full story
(The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs via JNS)—According to senior figures in the Fatah movement, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan have begun cooperation in anticipation of the announcement of the new U.S. peace plan known as the “deal of the century.” This new collaboration is based on understandings reached between Jordan’s King Abdullah and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in August 2017 after the crisis of the metal detectors that were set up at the gates to the Temple Mount. King Abdullah, for his part, made a special... Full story
(JNS)—The precise details of the forthcoming Trump administration Mideast peace plan are not yet known, but the basic principle was declared by senior adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner at last week’s Warsaw conference. “Both sides will have to make compromises,” he said. Kushner’s statement follows numerous similar statements by American officials, including the president himself. In his Feb. 9, 2017 interview with Israel Hayom, U.S. President Donald Trump said: “I think that both sides will have to make significant compromises... Full story
(JNS) The Israeli security cabinet decided on Sunday to put into effect a law passed in July to deduct half a billion shekels (approximately $138.2 million) from the annual tax revenues it transfers to the Palestinian Authority each year. The purpose of the legislation—like its precursor, the Taylor Force Act, which was approved by the U.S. Congress in May—is to coerce the P.A. to cease rewarding terrorists with hefty “pay-for-slay” stipends. Initially, Israeli security officials opposed cutting the funds on the grounds that doing so could e... Full story
(JNS)—These are dark days for France... days that are giving rise to questions about the future of its Jews. For months, we have witnessed the “yellow vests” popular protests. The demonstrations, which began because of justified claims against the government, are becoming more radical from day-to-day, and sadly, along with the calls against the establishment and for social justice, we are hearing shouts we never thought we would hear in the streets of Paris in 2019. Some of the “yellow vests” protests are based on myths and stories that woul... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Rep. Ilhan Omar picked a funny week to tweet about the power of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Last week, the Senate passed a bill that targets the boycott Israel movement. The 77-23 vote was a nice win for AIPAC, which backed it, but also held some worrying news for the pro-Israel lobby. While Republicans were nearly unanimous in their support, Democrats were mostly split: 25 for and 22 against. Even if you were able to erase AIPAC from the picture, it’s not clear how much the landscape would change. Israel is a p... Full story
We watched a Netflix program the other night titled “Mossad.” It consisted of interviews with mostly former Mossad agents and executives. At one point the interviewer asked “Why is the Mossad pictured in so many nations as a bunch of assassians and terrorists? With a slight smile, the ex-agent said “look—we are a different country. We are surrounded by nations who for the most part would like to destroy us and wipe every Jew off the face of the earth.” Can you name another country faced with this problem? No. And the problem of course, ext... Full story
By Mel Pearlman Betty is a very ordinary American name. The Betty I am writing about was born more than 91 years ago in the small scenic town of Ruskova, nestled in the Carpathian mountains in the Southeast corner of Romania. Ruskova was for the most part a peaceful town where Jews and their gentile neighbors got along very well. Betty’s father worked for the railroad in the next town down the road, where the railway station was located. Life was pretty uneventful for Betty and her family in her early childhood days. Then beginning in 1940, B... Full story
(JNS)—It’s a familiar refrain. Critics of Israel aren’t content to merely bash the policies of the government of the Jewish state. As part of their indictment, they allege that Israeli politics is conducted in a racial manner. The accusations start with claims that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used racist rhetoric against Arab voters in 2015. The latest charge has been lodged against Netanyahu’s principle opponent in this year’s election, former Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff General Benny Gantz. He is accused of basing hi... Full story
(JNS)—Freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from Minnesota is only part of the story of the colonialist settling of anti-Semitism in the highest echelons of the American democratic power system. Her financial support from CAIR, an unindicted co-conspirator in a terror financing trial, a group she raised money for, is readily available for those who seek information. And they’ve begun right now generating financial support for her 2020 campaign. Her disingenuous disguising of her BDS support was published. Her obvious anti-Semitism is not new. But... Full story
This is part 4 of a four-part series. While ultimately the Israeli voters will make their choice on April 9, there are any number of external factors that could influence the election’s outcome, including things like a war and increased terror, the anticipated Trump Peace Plan, diplomatic achievements including high profile state visits, and countries moving their embassies could play significant factors, among others. As the incumbent, Netanyahu has the benefit of making and hosting international state visits between now and the election. I... Full story
(CAMERA via JNS)—Reflecting a total lack of self-awareness, the trite headline to Michelle Alexander’s 2,281-word op-ed, online and in print on Jan. 19, in The New York Times says it all: “Time to Break the Silence on Palestine.” The notion that the Palestinian issue is ignored, that a “silence” currently surrounds it or has surrounded it in years past, and that pro-Israel advocates muzzle opposing views is a common canard of anti-Israel activists. For example, veteran Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy, who regularly accuses Israel of war crimes... Full story
