Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Nothing makes Palestinian-supporting BDS boycotters squeal louder than when they themselves become victims of their own tactics. Israel Strategic Affairs Ministry will deny entry for BDS activists if they fall into one of these four categories: • Individuals with senior positions or significant roles in a BDS promoting organization, such as senior staff, board chairman, or board members. • Key activists who take a consistent and continuous role to promote BDS. • Institutional officials, such as mayors, who promote BDS in an active and ongoi... Full story
The term “blacklist” is one that brings up memories of McCarthysim to most Americans. But those on a new Israeli “blacklist” who are to be blocked from entry to that country for promoting boycotts are undeserving of any sympathy. The 20 listed groups—singled out for their support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement—are a collection of vile hatemongers working not merely to cripple Israel’s economy, but to isolate it and to treat its people as pariahs who deserve to be attacked by terrorists. So it’s reasonable that... Full story
My dad was not a big believer in religion. I found some of the reason when I studied the life of my grandfather, Abraham Shiplacoff. Abe was a devout Socialist of the “Old School.” And, while he believed passionately in his Judaism—he was skeptical of all rabbis and any others in positions of power. His early years in what are now Ukraine and a stern father helped fashion his distaste for the status quo. So, my dad grew up with little regard for the religious structure of Judaism. As I reached the age of 12, the subject of Bar Mitzvah came... Full story
See the article on page 16A “Pulled Pork Kugel and other transgressive traditions from the ultimate treif banquest.” BOSTON (JTA)—In an article written for J: The Jewish News of Northern California and republished by JTA, David A.M. Wilensky describes with gusto the supposedly mouthwatering delicacies, including Peanut Butter Pie with Bacon and Pulled Pork Potato Kugel, consumed this month by “rabbis and foodies” at the Trefa Banquet 2.0 in San Francisco—complete with a communal blessing and a historical lecture justifying these juicy trans... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The Oslo Accords? “Killed,” the Palestinian Authority president says, blaming Israel. The Israeli prime minister says the Palestinians are now “unmasked”—but naturally he blames the Palestinians. Notably, the United States is silent. The P.A. president, Mahmoud Abbas, delivered a rambling address of more than two hours this weekend to the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council. “Today is the day that the Oslo Accords end,” he said. “Israel killed them.” Abbas blamed the restrictions under which his Palestinian... Full story
(JTA)—#MeToo. #GamAni. The stories are numerous and painful. They span decades and reach every corner of the Jewish community. Enough is enough. The time is now for us to finally and fully address sexual harassment in Jewish institutional life. When it comes to sexual harassment, Jewish teachings are unequivocal: We are obligated to put an end to the behavior for the sake of the victim, the perpetrator and the community as a whole. Despite our moral code, however, sexual misconduct in the Jewish community too often goes unaddressed. As H... Full story
For the first time in nearly a decade, one dares to believe that the Islamist clerics who have ruled Iran since 1979 will not be in power by the time the 40th anniversary of their revolution rolls around in 2019. The nationwide protests are a direct challenge to the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic, as evidenced in the slogans chanted by the demonstrators. They are also a rude antidote to the thinking of much of the Western establishment, which still clings to the notion that the “reformers” with whom they negotiated the 2015 nuclear dea... Full story
You know that critics of Israel are getting panicky when they start trotting out the old “one state” bogeyman. “As a 2-State Solution Loses Steam, a 1-State Plan Gains Traction,” a New York Times headline announced on Jan. 5, above an article so palpably absurd that it can only reflect the mad panic among advocates of Palestinian statehood as they see their dream fading away. And the fact that The Times chose to make it page one news says a lot about the fearful mindset among the left-wing news media, Israel-bashing pundits and Jewish peace c... Full story
Some years ago, the French actor Robert Clary appeared on a television interview. He was famous for another television program—Hogan’s Heroes, a comical take on a prison camp in Germany during the Second World War. In the interview, Clary, for the first time, told the story of his experience with the Holocaust. How he, as a young Jewish actor in Paris was rounded up along with his Jewish neighbors and Jewish contemporaries by the Paris police and eventually sent to Buchenwald. The rest of his family was also taken to German Concentration Cam... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Arguably the world’s greatest writer of fiction about the world’s foremost nonfiction atrocity, the Holocaust, died Thursday in Israel. Aharon Appelfeld, a Holocaust survivor himself and one of the icons of Israel’s first generation, was 85. No writer captured and reclaimed the lost world of European Jewish life with as much imaginative intensity and heartfelt longing. The author of over 40 books, written in Hebrew and translated around the world, he was the recipient of the State of Israel Prize for Literature in 1983, and a f... Full story
We didn’t need the publication of a new book filled with behind-the-scenes gossip to know that Donald Trump is an unconventional and, at times, inappropriate president. His use of Twitter provides many examples of this fact. But amid another flurry of questionable tweets on Jan. 4, Trump also talked about threatening aid cuts to the Palestinian Authority (PA). Most of the mainstream media treated that idea as being as loopy as the latest exchange of insults with North Korea’s dictator. But while it’s easy to mock Trump’s social media habits,... Full story
The New York Times closed 2017 with a parting shot at Israel. A Dec. 30 feature (“Coming Out in Lebanon”) in The Times identifies Lebanon as perhaps the “one exception” in a region hostile to its gay, lesbian and transgender citizens. The article opens, “Throughout the Middle East, gay, lesbian and transgender people face formidable obstacles to living a life of openness and acceptance in conservative societies.” But the newspaper insists, “If there is one exception, it has been Lebanon.” The article completely ignores Israel, the one Middle... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—JTA doesn’t give out Person of the Year honors, but if we did I’d be tempted to nominate Michael Kadar, the Israeli-American teenager accused of making hundreds of bomb threats against Jewish community centers in early 2017. As I wrote soon after his arrest: “[T]he JCC bomb threat hoax wasn’t just an isolated swastika daubing—it was an ongoing story affecting Jewish institutions in nearly every American Jewish community. It shaped a communal narrative that something ugly and insidious was happening out there. And it fueled a po... Full story
The Palestinians say “no” ties with the US, “no” meetings with US peace emissaries, and a big “no” to Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. All of these negatives have combined to turn President Donald Trump’s twitter arsenal against the PA. According to the US president, the Palestinians had no legitimate reason to be furious over his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital because Israel would have had “to pay” for his declarations with concessions in future negotiations. The United States currently gives the P... Full story
By Daniel Krygier Like all empires and despotic regimes, the Iranian Mullah regime has a shelf life that it desperately seeks to prolong. The renewed popular protests in Iran against the regime and the deteriorating living conditions in the country could potentially bring profound positive change for Israel, the Middle East and the world. Alongside Turkey, Iran stands out as a Muslim non-Arab country in a Middle East region dominated by the Arab world. Prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Israel and Iran enjoyed close economic and security... Full story
President Donald Trump’s recent announcement recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and declaring that the U.S. will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem did not happen in a vacuum or come out of nowhere. It did not happen solely because of Jewish influence, either. It happened because millions of good Christians in America urged the president to do so. But where did this groundswell of Christian support come from? It was exactly 40 years ago when I initiated some of the earliest dialogues ever between evangelical Christians and Jew... Full story
(Kveller via JTA)—My family joined a synagogue a few months ago, and overall it’s been wonderful for us. But after our first family Shabbat service, I realized I had a lot to learn. And I wanted to learn. I wanted to be a good example for both my children, but especially my 7-year-old, who was thriving in Hebrew school. Somewhere during a frantic, late-night Google search for Jewish classes and seminars, I stumbled upon a group called Jinspire. It was linked with the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project, a group that offers trips to Israel for J... Full story
On Dec. 14, the star singer-songwriter Lorde tweeted, not uncharacteristically, “my cutie tour mate covered the heart song.” A week later, she was taking a crash course on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By Christmas Eve, she had acquired enough knowledge of Middle East politics to cancel her June concert in Tel Aviv in accordance with the cultural wing of the BDS movement, which seeks to make Israel a pariah state by encouraging musical and other artists to boycott it. Elvis Costello is among the best-known entertainers to refuse to per... Full story
Time and time again, the Obama Administration took a back seat on the international stage. Whether it was the president’s “red-lines” in Syria—crossed without consequence—the ill-conceived Iran nuclear deal, or the sad spectacle of last December’s US vote to abstain, rather than veto, a one-sided, anti-Israel resolution in the UN Security Council, the Obama Administration’s view of American foreign policy stood in sharp contrast to previous administrations. The United Nations’ obsession with Israel is nothing new. It is well known and well docu... Full story
ByIn a demonstration of how completely at odds his views are from those of the foreign policy establishment, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman reportedly asked the State Department to stop using the term “occupied territories” and instead refer to the “West Bank.” According to accounts that have filtered out of Foggy Bottom, the State Department said no. But we are also told that after pressure “from above”—i.e. President Donald Trump, the current boss of everyone at State as well as Friedman—the issue has yet to be decided. If thi... Full story
Trump’s speeches, and what has happened since, remind us once again about the marginality of Jews. Some may feel comfortable, and justly, given his realism about Jerusalem the Western Wall, and non-Israeli sources of problems throughout the Middle East. But Muslims, and Europeans, are rabid, or upset about what he has unleashed. We are problems for ourselves and others. It’s nothing new. There are signs in the histories told by the Hebrew Bible, Josephus, and much that has occurred since then. It’s probably inevitable in the case of a small... Full story
Europe is the epicenter of the political war against Israel. Europe fights Israel on the streets of Europe, in the corridors of power in Brussels, other Western European capitals and the UN, and in Israel itself. Europe’s war against Israel is a passive-aggressive campaign fought and denied simultaneously. But in recent years, the mask has fallen over and over again. In the days that have passed since US President Donald Trump’s dramatic announcement that the US recognizes that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and is beginning to take concr... Full story
Nations around the world have condemned the US for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, saying the recent move by President Trump is an obstacle to an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement. But the real obstacle to peace is the stubborn refusal by Palestinian leaders to accept the reality of Israel as a permanent Jewish state in the historic homeland of the Jewish people. This refusal to accept reality can be labeled Palestinian Derangement Syndrome. As long as Palestinian leaders continue to embrace it, they will not agree to a fair a... Full story
On Dec. 8, American Muslims for Palestine held a protest in front of the White House, reacting to President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The featured speaker was Imam Omar Suleiman, who also led Friday prayers. Suleiman is a notorious bigot who has called homosexuality a “repugnant shameless sin,” advocated for gender segregation and justified Islamic sex slavery. Also speaking was the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Nihad Awad. During Awad’s remarks at the White H... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—The Israeli-American Council’s Fourth Annual National Conference in Washington, D.C., held last month felt like a long-overdue family reunion. Enveloping warmth and a powerful sense of togetherness, the love for Israel was infectious, radiating to and from all the participants. In the corridors of the Washington Convention Center, teenagers spoke with unique pride about their hybrid Israeli-American identity, rooted in the idea that they are deeply connected to their home in America while maintaining a strong affinity to the... Full story
