Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Monday, Dec. 4, The New York Times published the Palestinian response to an alleged Saudi peace plan. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly presented it to PLO chief and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas last month. According to the Times’ report, Mohammed told Abbas he has two months to either accept the Saudi proposal or leave office to make way for a new Palestinian leader who will accept it. The Palestinians and their European supporters are up in arms about the content of Mohammed’s plan. It reportedly proposes the... Full story
Dec. 6, 2017, will be forever remembered as a day when a historic wrong had been righted. His long-awaited speech drew praise from both sides of the aisle from our Florida Congressional representatives Congressman Brian Mast (R-Fla.) called it a “day of celebration” and warned that “for groups like Hamas, this is just another excuse to cause violence and destruction that proves they are not ready to negotiate peace.” His sentiment was echoed by fellow Republican Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), who lauded President Trump for is decision, after “the Ob... Full story
(JTA)—E.B. White famously wrote that there are “roughly three New Yorks”: the one of the native New Yorker, the one of the commuter, and the New York of the “person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something.” To which a resident of Jerusalem might respond, “Only three? Lucky you.” Jerusalem is messy, in the best and worst sense of the word. It’s a city of secular intellectuals and insular haredim. It’s the seat of Israel’s government and flypaper for the dreamers, fanatics, seekers and tourists from three major re... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—In a recent talk at Temple Emanuel here, former first lady Michelle Obama spoke about how women live with tiny cuts that build up over time, cuts that we endure without noticing, even as we bleed. That is what it is to be a girl and a woman in this world, she said, urging women to own our scars, and to find power and healing in doing so. The last weeks have been a sobering reminder that sexual misconduct is rampant in every profession, not just in the entertainment industry or in politics. It is a reminder, as if we needed a r... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI twice—both times about policy maneuvering with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, during the transition. That last word is key: Flynn twice talked to Kislyak in December 2016 when Trump was president-elect, not president. That was still Barack Obama’s job. One of the things Flynn and Kislyak talked about was Israel. Flynn says that was at the behest of Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kus... Full story
“This is nothing more and nothing less than recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do.” Announced President Trump in his monumental statement today, recognizing Jerusalem as “Israel’s capital established in ancient times.” Jerusalem has been the eternal capital of the Jewish people since Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshipped on the Temple Mount. Jerusalem continued to be the eternal capital of the Jewish nation since King David brought the Holy Ark to rest on the Temple Mount. This was further affirmed by King Solomon when he b... Full story
The Taylor Force Act started out as a powerful and long-overdue tool for pressuring the Palestinian Authority to stop paying terrorists. But the legislation has been diluted, weakened and compromised in so many ways that it is now a pale shadow of its former self. The Taylor Force Act has been gutted. Known in the Senate as S. 1697, the Taylor Force Act is named after a young Vanderbilt University student—and U.S. Army veteran—who was murdered by a Palestinian Arab knife-wielding terrorist in Jaffa in 2016. The lead Senate sponsor is Sen. Lin... Full story
By Charles Jacobs and Ilya Feoktistov JNS.org On July 25, 2017, in what appeared to be an unprecedented event in American Jewish history, a group that came into existence as a front for a terrorist organization that murders Jews was invited to solicit donations at a synagogue. On that date, Rabbi Howard Jaffe of Temple Isaiah in Lexington, Mass., hosted three Muslim leaders, whom he presented to his congregation as wonderful people and friends of the Jewish community. The event was seductively titled “Out of Many, One,” and was billed as an... Full story
In the end, perhaps only a president so completely divorced from diplomatic reality and utterly indifferent to international opinion could do it. Despite the difficulties and the manifest dangers involved with keeping America’s promise—enshrined in U.S. law passed by Congress—to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, President Donald Trump may actually do it sometime in the next week. The Wall Street Journal reported that the State Department had informed U.S. embassies around the world about a plan to make the move and t... Full story
Dear Editor: The Zionistas thank President Trump for boldly recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, thus beginning the process of moving our embassy there. Since 1995, when Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act for the purpose of initiating the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama have consistently waived enacting this law, citing national security interests. But President Trump made the decision to do the right thing and kept his campaign promise, taking steps to move the... Full story
It has been a long time since I’ve heard anyone say anything positive about the French Socialist Party (PS), once the giant of that country’s post-war politics, but trounced into fifth place in this year’s presidential election, with just 6 percent of the vote going to its candidate. But I’m nonetheless going to throw caution to the wind, and offer my modest congratulations to the PS for its Nov. 21 decision to expel Gérard Filoche, the party grandee at the center of a row over a dismally transparent anti-Semitic tweet from his account,... Full story
It’s difficult for Americans to sympathize with the rulers of Saudi Arabia. Though a longstanding ally of the U.S., the oil-rich theocracy has helped foment extremism around world by funding fundamentalist mosques and madrassas. That 15 of the 19 hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks were Saudis and not Iranians is something that can’t be forgotten. But the moment may have arrived when Riyadh may be providing some common sense advice Washington should heed. By taking steps to highlight the need for the West and its Arab allies to start add... Full story
The most prominent Jewish leader in America did not mince words when it came to the question of whether the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) should have an office in Washington, D.C. In a telegram to the president, he wrote, “Our country must not permit the killers of Jewish children and the assassins of American diplomats to open an office in Washington, D.C.” But I’m not talking about last week’s news. I’m taking about 1976. The chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations was Rabbi Alexander... Full story
The article that ran in the Nov. 17 issue titled “The history of the $1 bill and who was Haym Solomon?” was a great story, but it wasn’t entirely true, unfortunately. I had a very enlightening conversation about the piece with Murray Toborowsky, a former high school American history teacher, who agreed that it is a great story. For Jewish people, it’s encouraging to read that a Jewish man saved our fledgling new country at the ninth hour. But alas, Toborowsky told me George Washington never said “Send for Haym Solomon,” when funds were desperat... Full story
“It’s great to hear that your children are loving college, and not experiencing much anti-Semitism or anti-Zionism. They deserve to enjoy their time at school, just like everyone else!” That was my answer to a parent who recently commented, “my kids say they never see anything,” and asked, “is the situation on campus really that bad?” The truth is that most Jewish students will never experience the kind of hate we often read about in the news. I know, because when I was in college, I was one of those kids who didn’t see anything. I grew up in a... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Did The New York Times just normalize an American neo-Nazi? That’s the charge being flung at The Newspaper of Record over its Saturday profile of Tony Hovater, 29, a “polite,” “low key” Ohio man who is a “committed foot soldier” who helped start one of the white nationalist groups that marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August. The article, titled “In America’s Heartland, the Nazi Sympathizer Next Door,” depicts Hovater cooking pasta for his sympathetic wife and pushing a shopping cart through his local grocery, and as... Full story
Back in Queens College I had a weekly column in the school paper called “The Dean’s List,” Under the pseudonym Eddie Dean I would write a weekly movie/TV review and then list the Top 10 films/shows in that genre. My editor and I purposely made the lists controversial in order to facilitate reader response. I can only imagine that when the New York Times published their list of “12 Movies To See Before You Turn 13” this weekend they had this concept in mind. My jaw figuratively hit the ground when I saw the list included such films as “Die Hard... Full story
In the wake of its controversial decision to host a panel discussion on anti-Semitism that includes Linda Sarsour and Rebecca Vilkomerson, the executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, the New School chose to defend its choice of panelists, saying that engaging in “debate” is critical to its role as an academic institution and that there are “differing views on the issue of anti-Semitism.” In order to deflect from the criticism, the New School offered to have a second panel, to be organized by Tablet Magazine, whose writer Liel Leibovi... Full story
What are the details of the Middle East peace plan that President Donald Trump will use to craft what he hopes is the “ultimate deal?” Sometime in the next few months, they will be unveiled as part of an effort to revive the dead-in-the-water peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Though we’ll have to wait and see what exactly is in the proposal being cooked up by a team led by presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner and chief negotiator Jason Greenblatt, the only two things that seem certain are that it is likely to be accep... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—“Is So-and-So Jewish? How Jewish is she? Find out if she’s Jewish.” I often joke that JTA reporters and anti-Semitic bloggers write the same stories, only with different headlines. We proudly search down Jewish celebrities to show the diverse ways that Jews are contributing to the wider culture. The Daily Stormer uses the same names to prove that Jews are taking over. The problem for us, of course, is when the Jews we report on do bad things. Very bad things. The last few months have seen a deluge of stories about Jews in trou... Full story
Dear Editor: While I like a good story with a happy ending, as occurred in your story ‘SupermanHPV’ in the Nov. 3, 2017, issue, I would like to add a cautionary note about the level of enthusiasm given to the Gardasil vaccine series in that story. There are 170 known types of HPV that cause different issues in humans from warts to cancer. Of these, 17 strains are known to cause cancer in humans. That being said, Gardasil is supposed to protect against 9 of these different strains that can cause cancer. The problem is, is that HPV is ubiquitous,... Full story
Dear Editor: We are very appreciative of the thoughtful letter to the editor regarding the use of the Gardasil 9 vaccine to prevent HPV-related cancers. The points you made deserve discussion. While it is true that some individuals, even newborn children, can be exposed to HPV, the vast majority of infections develop following initiation of sexual activity. The recommended age to initiate the series is between ages 11 and 12, but it can be given as early as 9. The benefit of administration at this time is that it likely predates sexual debut... Full story
Dear Editor: I have seen Kehillah and I am so excited about the exhibit at the Orange County Historical Museum. First let me thank all of the men and women who put this together. Just looking at the exhibit, you get an idea how many places they had to go to and people they had to chase down to get the information needed for this first-class exhibit. Second, I want to encourage everyone who reads this letter to take a couple of hours to see this exhibit—you won’t be sorry. You will be reminded of many people you know or knew. For me it was a r... Full story
Another week, another centennial. Following the Balfour Declaration’s milestone, it’s now time to look back on the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, where a communist insurrection in St. Petersburg, then known as Petrograd, gave birth to a state that caused untold misery to millions for almost the remainder of the 20th century. Led by Vladimir Lenin, the Bolsheviks—the “majority” faction of the Russian communists—were a tight-knit, fiercely revolutionary group. Its core members had shared the experience of exile in grand cities like London... Full story
Senior Trump administration officials reportedly are crafting a plan for Middle East peace. Based on the details that are available so far, friends of Israel have good reason for concern. According to a front-page New York Times report on Nov. 12, the administration is preparing what it considers to be an “ultimate deal” between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. There appear to be two phases to the plan. Phase one will consist of “confidence-building provisions” by each side. The problem is that Israel will be expected to make new concess... Full story
