Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2051 - 2075 of 3636
The Trump administration may be patting itself on the back by playing tough guy with tariffs in its effort to convince the Chinese government to return to the negotiating table for the purpose of revising reciprocal trade arrangements. President Xi, however, may have turned the tables in China’s favor with his hosting last month of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un who received a very warm welcome in Beijing. The economic brinkmanship game being played out by the two leaders of the world’s two biggest economies is not occurring in a diplomatic vacuu... Full story
Truthfully? I don’t remember when I first heard the word “Holocaust.” In the 1940s I went to Bala Cynwyd Junior High and then Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, where out of 1500 students, less than 20 were Jews. In my senior year, Israel declared its independence. There was a discussion about it in Miss Lamb’s history class. As I remember, the class was about evenly divided on whether or not Israel as a State was legitimate. I do not remember any mention, much less discussion of the Holocaust. Perhaps it came into my conscio... Full story
(JNS)—In what must be considered a public-relations coup of epic proportions, the New Israel Fund announced this week that it would be benefiting from the sales of copies of Anne Frank’s diary. The diary is among the most beloved books of the 20th century and the standard introduction to the Holocaust for many people. The foundation created by Anne’s father, Otto Frank—the sole member of the family to survive after being captured by the Nazis and sent to death camps—receives the proceeds from the bestseller and related works, and it will now... Full story
(JNS)—There was a time when a proposed U.S. sale of sophisticated rocket systems to an Arab regime that finances terrorism against Israel would arouse fierce opposition from American Jewish leaders. So why are Jewish leaders silent in the face of the Trump administration’s announced plan to sell $300 million in advanced rocket technology to the government of Qatar? The Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, claimed at his White House meeting on April 10 that he doesn’t help terrorists. (I guess his well-paid American PR advisers told him w... Full story
(JNS)—The head of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Washington office received a thunderous welcome on Monday afternoon from self-described “pro-Israel, pro-peace” activists at the 10th anniversary J Street conference. Despite a speech peppered with obvious agitprop, Husam Zomlot was cheered heartily by attendees. “It warms my heart to know we have allies like you,” Zomlot told the crowd. “Allies with such courage and conviction to stand up for what is right. You are not dreamers, but realists.” The J Street lobbying agenda includes... Full story
(JNS)—There is a tragic account of the last moments of Grigori Zinoviev, the veteran Russian Bolshevik leader of Jewish descent who was executed by Stalin in 1936. According to the historian Donald Rayfield, on the journey from his prison cell to the execution cellar, the broken Zinoviev “clung to the boots of his guards and was taken down by stretcher.” “This scene,” Rayfield continues in his book on Stalin’s crimes, “was re-enacted several times at supper at Stalin’s dacha, the bodyguard Karl Pauker playing the part of Zinoviev—begging for St... Full story
(JNS)—Radical Jewish students at Harvard University are planning to hold a late “Liberation Seder” to “protest the continuing occupation by Israel.” On Thursday, April 5, six days after all other Jews around the world held their Passover seders, the Progressive Jewish Alliance held its event to protest “our community’s support for the occupation” and to ask “Are you for endless occupation, or for freedom and dignity for all?” I have a question for these students: Have you ever taken a course in the history of modern Israel? Either the answer is... Full story
Despite the incredible contributions the Jewish people have made to civilization throughout history, envy and irrational hatred continue to plague them. It is one of the ironies of history that we have never had the luxury to not be concerned with our security, even in the lands in which we are relatively safe, and in which we enjoy full citizenship. We are living in a very complex time of political polarization and intersection of issues in which we try to support groups who have faced discrimination and injustice, but who in turn spurn their... Full story
I should have read “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglasss, an American Slave” before I turned 50, in high school or college, as it is as vivid a portrait of American slavery, the almost immutable triumph of greed over conscience, and the dehumanization of both slave and master as one could ever read. I wonder about human nature, or make it my nature—how much of my comfort would I give up for conscience? A question as old as Noah, the ambiguous “a good man for his age.” Is the real insight that the triumph of conscience is the rarity, t... Full story
(JNS)—After eight years of dealing with an American president who considered establishing more “daylight” between the United States and Israel, the last 15 months has been a whole lot easier for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Unlike his predecessor, U.S. President Donald Trump doesn’t think it’s his duty to disregard the verdict of Israeli democracy and “save Israel from itself,” or to tilt the diplomatic playing field in the direction of the Palestinians in the vain hope that they will make peace. Trump’s instinctual con... Full story
(JNS)—Being a Jew on left has become more and more difficult, and the apparent mainstream acceptance of Louis Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic lies, rooted in hate, rightfully enraged our community. But as I learned by joining the Zioness Movement—a national group for progressive Zionists—the antidote to being dehumanized is that we must show our humanity. I have been bitter and angry, hell-bent on attacking anti-Semites and anti-Zionists. I was stuck in a shtetl mentality of helplessness and desperation with the feeling that the walls have been cl... Full story
(JNS)—Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman made history after telling The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg that his country recognized the right of the Jews to “their own land.” Though he added that the Saudis also care about the rights of Palestinians and the fate of “the holy mosque in Jerusalem,” the message he was sending to Muslims and Arabs was loud and clear. As far as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—the state that has styled itself the defender of Islamic holy places, and thus the self-styled moral leader of the Arab and Muslim worl... Full story
The world has changed. Our needs have changed. Our vision of the future has changed. Schools haven’t been keeping up. If our children are our future, then the way we run our schools reflects our dreams for the future. There was an era when American parents dreamed of their children going to college, earning a good degree and supporting a family with all the good things America could provide. For that, all that was needed was a school that gave your kids that entry pass to college. Principally, your children needed information and the skills t... Full story
(JNS)—The risk of the “March of Return,” organized by Hamas last Friday, is that of a new kind of mass terrorism, a new kind of war. The whole world knows that this organization’s foremost aim, together with the death of the Jews and the conquest of the West, is a strategic turn taking place with these mass marches. It’s a terrorist spark in the haystack of the Middle East. Yet the United Nations again blames Israel by engaging in its favorite sport—blaming Israel, even if it was unable to pass a condemnation this time. U.N. Secretary-G... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—All too often, when I ask campus organizations that are pro-Israel and deeply Zionist why they avoid using the “Z-word” in their messaging and literature, I’m told, “Zionism doesn’t poll well.” True, not polling well is one of today’s great sins. But imagine what our world would be like if our ancestors feared the polls. The American Revolution wouldn’t have polled well. Suggestions that Northerners crush slavery in 1860 wouldn’t have polled well. And proposing a new Jewish state in 1897 wouldn’t have polled well either. A... Full story
Seventh-three years ago this week, three young men who were neighbors of my family, borrowed weapons from Soviet troops occupying post-war Poland, and returned to their hometown to escort the remaining Jews out of Kanczuga for the last time. The three young men had survived the war that ended three months earlier, but the anti-Semitism that fueled the Holocaust was alive and well. They had returned to Kanczuga because of threats of a pogrom, to murder the remaining surviving Jews who had returned to Kanczuga. The pogrom started a day before.... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Engaging young people in their 20s and 30s, the so-called millennial generation, is a high priority for Jewish philanthropists. Some funders have banded together to create new initiatives, including free trips to Israel, with the express purpose of drawing members of this generation into Jewish life. Others have gravitated to the so-called innovation sector, supporting millennials who dream up new programs to entice their peers into some form of Jewish participation. But for all the energy and money expended on such programs, o... Full story
President Donald Trump’s decision to appoint former UN Ambassador John Bolton to serve as his national security adviser is arguably the most significant single step he has taken to date toward implementing his America First foreign policy since taking office. The news hit America’s enemies and competitors—from Pyongyang to Teheran to Moscow to Beijing—like a wall of bricks Thursday night. Early criticisms on the political right of Bolton’s appointment have centered on two points. First, it is argued that Bolton, who has been involved in U.S. f... Full story
(JNS)—Have you ever read a news report about a Palestinian Arab who starved to death? Even one? Of course not, because it never happens. Yet the foreign minister of Sweden is now claiming that the Palestinian Authority must provide salaries to terrorists and their families because otherwise, they will “starve.” Sweden, which was the first country in the European Union to recognize the P.A.-occupied territories as the “State of Palestine,” has given the Palestinians more than $700 million in aid since 1993. The Swedes are now in the middle of... Full story
A Palestinian used his car as a weapon and drove into a cluster of soldiers alongside an IDF base in the West Bank. He killed two and injured two others. A few days later, a Palestinian stabbed a security guard in Jerusalem’s Old City. Those were the third, fourth, and fifth deaths so far in 2018 attributed to Palestinian terror. That equals the number of American Jews that we know were killed by gunfire. Four Jewish students and one Jewish teacher were killed in the school shooting at Parkland, Florida. The number of Israeli deaths from t... Full story
(JNS)—At this year’s AIPAC conference, a great deal of attention was given to organizational efforts to present Israel as an attractive cause for Democrats and liberals to continue to embrace. As I noted earlier this month, while perils are associated with any attempt to “rebrand” the Jewish state without addressing the core issues of the conflict, the group got generally good reviews for working hard to address major concerns for the pro-Israel community. Fueling those worries was a recent Pew Research Center poll that highlighted the growing... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel, don’t shut the door in our faces. My name is Monim Harun, an asylum seeker from Sudan. I was born in a small village nested between mountains and forests, where we lived together as one big family. At a young age I was separated from my family and the people I loved most in the world when the militia forces attacked our village. They went through the village killing every man and boy in sight, but by a miracle I survived. My mother wanted me to live in a safer place and have the opportunity to study, so in 2001, at the... Full story
(JNS)—For a quarter of a century, the Palestinian Authority has cynically wrapped itself inside a fig leaf dubbed as the “Peace Process.” The naked truth, however, is that it has been using every means available to incite for, incentivize and reward terrorism. With Friday’s passage of the Taylor Force Act, which aims to deduct payments to Palestinian prisoners and martyrs, fissures are finally emerging in its iron wall of deception. The phrase “Peace Process” served as an ingenious linguistic sedative, lulling the international community i... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Slate podcaster Mike Pesca has a theory that whenever President Donald Trump says “everybody” it means “almost nobody,” and when he says “nobody” or “anybody” it means “almost everybody.” Try it: When Trump said, “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated”—well, nearly everybody disagreed. And when he says, “Everybody knows there was no collusion,” he means, “I insist there was no collusion, but am worried that nobody else, including Robert Mueller, agrees with me.” That kind of verbal irony has become a way of arguing o... Full story
Is this another occasion to sit shiva for the idea of a Palestinian state? Or yet another indication that the idea is well within the realm of dreamland, not to die, but not to achieve anything real? Several events qualify for the label of strategic, in the sense that they signal abject failure for those wanting a state when they wake in the morning. One was the refusal of Palestinians to attend a meeting at the White House to discuss what many perceive to be a crisis in Gaza. Another was the effort, apparently by one of the Palestinian... Full story
