Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1976 - 2000 of 3636
(JNS)—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn’t on her way to Congress because of her hostility to the State of Israel. The upset victory of a Democratic Socialist over one of the highest ranking Democrats in Congress, as well as the boss of the party in New York City’s Queens County, did not hinge on her declaring that Israel was perpetrating a “massacre” in Gaza and her call for members of the party to join in denouncing the Jewish state. She beat Rep. Joe Crowley for a number of sound political reasons, including the demographics of a district... Full story
The announced retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and the current process to appoint and confirm his successor, will further politicize the judicial branch of government if ideology is a primary factor in the confirmation hearings. This would be contrary to the intent of the founders of our nation who sought to create an independent judicial and nonpolitical buffer between the executive and legislative branches, as the third branch of government. The creation of this judicial buffer was to resolve disputes between and among... Full story
(JNS)—Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Robert F. Kennedy, is one of the best-known killers in American history. Yet two major television networks recently broadcast segments about the Kennedy assassination without mentioning his name at all. What gives? On June 5, 1968, Sirhan, a Palestinian Arab with Jordanian citizenship, shot the senator four times at point-blank range in a Los Angeles hotel. There has never been any dispute regarding Sirhan’s motive. In multiple interviews afterwards, he said he did it because Kennedy was pro-Israel. The rec... Full story
(JNS)—Imam Mundhir Abdallah is a good example of the dilemmas that have confronted politicians in Denmark in their response to Islamist extremism among the country’s 300,000 Muslims, the large majority of whom are first- or second-generation immigrants. In May 2017, the Danish Jewish community filed a complaint against Imam Abdallah for a sermon he delivered two months previously, in which he implored faithful Muslims to kill the Jews on “Judgement Day” and urged the “liberation” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem from “the filth of the Zionis... Full story
(JNS)—In a now-viral video, five American girls staged a walkout on the final day of their trip to Israel courtesy of Birthright, a not-for-profit educational organization that sponsors free 10-day heritage trips to Israel for young adults of Jewish heritage. The protest was organized by the anti-Israel organization IfNotNow, which seeks to end American Jewish support for Israel and has been widely criticized for refusing to even engage in dialogue with those it slams in the Jewish community. The protestors accuse Birthright of hiding what t... Full story
Dear Editor: Sometimes we need to go backwards in our history and time in order to proceed so that we may obtain a clearer understanding of the total chaos and disorder of this present day in America. Our country is divided. We are no longer a ‘People of One Nation Under G-d with Liberty and Justice for All’ but we have emerged into two separate divided parties and peoples. Danger. We are being dragged into following a golden calf! It appears Democratic values demand total abandonment of all past biblically founded principles such as law and... Full story
(JNS)—Only hours after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision to uphold U.S. President Donald Trump’s right to restrict entry into the United States from seven countries, including five with Muslim majorities, Jewish groups were issuing condemnations and organizing protests. Much of the organized Jewish community has been involved in opposing the administration. That opposition has deepened as the understandable anger over the government separating children from their parents who had crossed the southern border without permission ign... Full story
By Jerome Marcus (JNS)—A peculiarly Israeli approach to national defense was on display recently at a high school in Shaar HaNegev, “Gate of the Desert.” There, as described in an article in the Hebrew-language online daily Globus, 350 Israelis showed up for a Hackathon dubbed “What Happens to Every Balloon.” The event announcement called for volunteers to try to develop solutions for the latest “war” effort emanating from the Gaza Strip. Balloons, filled with helium stolen from Gaza hospitals, are equipped with bombs, grenades and other flamma... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—A few months ago I wrote a humor piece titled “Don’t eat off the seder plate, and other tips for non-Jews attending their first seder.” It drew a miffed response from a rabbi friend who often works with interfaith families and suggested “it’s time to drop terms like ‘non-Jew’ and gentile.” At the time I scoffed. Yes, it is a little weird that a people who represent less than 0.1 percent of the world’s population define everybody else as “not us.” It’s like someone with lactose intolerance saying he doesn’t eat “dairy ice cr... Full story
The 75 or 78 percent figures frequently referred to by Democrat apologists as if they were the Holy Grail, are based entirely on entry or exit polls but many Jews are reluctant to identify themselves as conservatives and risk peer pressure. During the past two presidential election cycles, in many synagogues, there have been rabbis and congregants who have openly demonstrated a knee-jerk reaction to political issues denigrating conservatives and Republicans as reactionaries or anti-Semites, yet even if the real figure is “only” 70 percent, it i... Full story
(JNS)—In many Jewish households on Friday nights, parents bless their daughters in the names of our matriarchs: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah. We do so to hold our highest role models to our girls. Lately though, I’ve had the creeping inclination to consider another name to this list of women in whose footsteps I hope my daughter will follow: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. Haley represents our country with bold, honorable and principled leadership. In no forum are these traits more lacking than the United Nations. In no... Full story
(JNS)—“The United Nations Human Rights Council” and the principle of human rights are two things diametrically opposed to each other. The makeup of the council, which is determined by geographic location and dictates anti-American conduct by the leadership of nondemocratic regimes, is proof of that. Council member Venezuela, for example, is a dictatorship that puts opposition leaders in prison, is anti-American, and is aligned with the ayatollahs’ regime in Iran. The Congo is ruled by a dictator who murders those who oppose him and is keeping... Full story
Dear Editor: As a longtime subscriber to your newspaper, I have depended on it for accurate reporting of Jewish news in our community, in our country and the world. In your June 22, 2018, issue, I read with particular interest David Gemunder’s article, “Pass the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (and protect the First Amendment),” which cited examples of anti-Semitism at American colleges and universities. Listed first was my alma mater, Barnard College, where the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) resolution against Israel had been passed. Stunned... Full story
(JNS)—We don’t yet know the details of the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan that presidential adviser Jared Kushner is preparing. But we do know how Kushner perceives the Palestinian Arabs. And he’s got them all wrong. The White House has released an official transcript of Kushner’s June 24 interview with the Palestinian Arab newspaper Al Quds. It shows that Kushner subscribes to the oldest myth of the conflict—that average Palestinians are really just like us. Here’s how he put it: “I believe that Palestinian people are less invested in t... Full story
(JNS)—What does a portrait of Israeli society mid-2018 look like? This is a country that has, proportionately, the most number of Jews compared to the United States, but it is not a Jewish country. It is more appropriate to characterize it as a country with a prevalent anti-Zionist atmosphere. The High Court of Justice functions as the executor of decisions to evacuate settlements, as if on an assembly line. With nary a warning, some 2,500 police show up to empty a few homes in Netiv Ha’avot or an outpost near Tapuach. At Tel University, playin... Full story
The idea to fully enforce the immigration laws of the United States, a fundamental right of every sovereign nation, even democratic ones, is not only good policy, but obligatory under our notion of the rule of law. The Trump administration however, has an uncanny ability to pursue a sound public policy idea only to implement it with disastrous results. The idea to separate children from their parents or alleged parents before vetting each “family” unit is not only contrary to generally accepted American values, but in fact, makes it more diffic... Full story
(Jewish Media Resources)—My brother recently sent me a three-hour video of the Weinstein brothers, Eric and Bret, in conversation. Eric, the older brother, holds a PhD in mathematical physics from Harvard, and has published widely in both physics and economics. He is today the managing director of Thiel Capital, the investment arm of PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Bret taught biology at Evergreen State College until he ran afoul of the social justice warriors. He tried to teach his course on a “day of absence” declared by black students: whites... Full story
(JNS)—US interests in the Middle East and beyond are well-served by a strategically constrained Syria. Historically, Syria has been a tectonic, volatile platform of violent, intolerant and unpredictable Arab/Islamic regional aspirations of grandeur, totally unrelated to Israel’s existence and policies. During the modern era, Syria has been a major arena of anti-U.S. hate-education and incitement, Islamic and international terrorism (e.g., the blowing up of the U.S. Embassy and Marines Headquarters in Beirut and Pan Am Flight 103), nar... Full story
(JNS)—It is difficult to find better words than “treason” and “espionage” to describe the offenses attributed to former minister Gonen Segev. This man, who was a government minister, a senior partner in the decision-making process, gave information to Iran. Large parts of this affair are still under wraps, but what can be said clearly indicates that Segev was not duped or extorted. He chose, with eyes wide open, to help Israel’s archenemy gather intelligence. Segev was methodical and shrewd; he took measures to cover his tracks and tried recru... Full story
(JNS)—Once again, Hezbollah flags flew in London last weekend at the Iran-supporting “Al Quds” march in Britain’s capital city. Hezbollah, the proxy army of the Iranian regime, is responsible for numerous murderous attacks around the world against Jews, Americans and other Western interests. No matter. The march—an annual London fixture, no less—featured calls for Israel to be wiped from the map, and was led by a man who previously made the deranged claim that “Zionists” were behind an appalling London apartment block fire last year in which m... Full story
In my last column I tried to reduce some 5,000 years of our history to less than a thousand words. I apologize for the gaps. So, now let us turn to the “Palestinians.” If you search history you will find that the land that is today Israel did not have a formal “Nation State” prior to the Israelites coming in from a long desert trek. There were no “Arabs” living there. The “Arabs” of the time were basically wandering Bedouin nomads. Before Israel, the land was visited by the Phoenicians and Greeks as they built routes for trade (and war). By t... Full story
(JNS)—It was just another day at the office for U.N. officials. As it has done innumerable times in the last 50 years, on June 12, the General Assembly devoted an entire day of debate, procedural wrangling and voting to an effort to condemn Israel. As was the case with almost every previous effort of this kind, it succeeded. The resolution in this case was one that condemned Israel for the violence in recent weeks along the border with Gaza. It placed the sole blame on Israel, which, it said, used, “excessive, disproportionate and ind... Full story
Is our civilization worth keeping alive? This sounds like a ridiculous question. Of course it is worth saving we would say. In fact, most of us don’t even see the need to protect our civilization. We are nestled in the belief that it will last forever. America is strong, powerful. It is the land of the “free.” In reality, no civilization lasts forever. Where is the Greek or Roman civilization? Actually, the only people who have survived, though they were dispersed from their land for about 2,000 years, are the Jewish people. Once again they... Full story
(JTA)—Let me start by stating what should be obvious: Holocaust comparisons are lazy and more often than not hysterical. They diminish Nazism and genocide by making them synonyms for “very bad things.” You may regard the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance stance at the border, and its policy of separating parents and children, as inhumane and un-American. But if you think that’s Nazism, you don’t know Nazism. But wow, was Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ reply weird when Laura Ingraham asked him about the Nazi comparisons. Here’s the Ju... Full story
Dear Editor: In the 15 June 2018 letter to the Heritage, Richard H. Gleick comments on the absence of Democrats at the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem and as a result not understanding why any Jew would support the Democratic Party. I would like to point out to Mr. Gleick that many, if not most, Jews and non-Jews, who are strong supporters of Israel, and who consider Jerusalem the capital of Israel, question from a strategic point of view whether this was the proper time to move the embassy to Jerusalem. To question Chuck Schumer, and... Full story
