Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2426 - 2450 of 3644
(JTA)—For decades, supporters of the U.S.-Israel relationship have insisted on strong bipartisanship rather than allying their cause with the Democrats or Republicans. So even while a typical bit of punditry over the past few presidencies was to assert that Bill Clinton, or George W. Bush, or Barack Obama was “the most pro-Israel president in history,” Israel advocates nevertheless kept their heads and painstakingly maintained strong relationships on both sides of the aisle. Now some are eagerly making the same grandiose claim about Presi... Full story
Dear Community Members, It’s been a challenging few weeks for the Jewish community of Greater Orlando and other Jewish communities, as an individual or individuals have sought to disrupt JCC and Jewish school operations across the nation, attacking the very fabric of Jewish life. How we respond as a community will demonstrate what kind of community we are. As the leaders of the organizations on the Maitland Jewish Community Campus, we believe we are strong. We are committed. We are resilient. We are passionate about protecting our shared v... Full story
It’s been clear for a long time that there is little difference between the character of terrorist attacks in Israel and those in the West more broadly. Trucks ram into crowds—as they did in Nice, Berlin and Jerusalem. Terrorists blow up or shoot up nightclubs—as they did in Orlando, Tel Aviv and Bali. Knife-wielding Islamists dash into venues from shopping malls to police stations stabbing anyone in reach—as they did in Minnesota, Brussels and, yes, Tel Aviv. Compared to 15 years ago, there is a much greater empathy with Israel’s existenti... Full story
By the time you read this column the Inauguration may be over. Like it not Donald Trump is your president. Even if you claim he is not your president—he is. If you continue your citizenship in America he is your president. I heard and read reports of people who said they would leave the United States if Trump were elected president. How many have left or when are they leaving? Don’t let the door hit you on the behind when you leave. Actually, that’s not the attitude to have. The correct attitude is, “Come on people now love one another,” or som... Full story
Well, what happens if they don’t? This month, a bunch of Europeans and others walked into a room in Paris to decide what actually had already been decided in 1947 and discussed continually since then: That the best solution for the Holy Land of Israel was to whack it up into two states: One for the Jews, one for the Arabs. As we all know, all the way back in ’47, the Jews agreed, the Arabs did not. The distinguished gentlemen at this latest meeting represented the U.N., a number of nations, a sprinkling of Arabs as well as John Kerry who, by... Full story
By Christine DeSouza As of this writing, there have been three bomb threats called in to the Maitland Jewish campus since Jan. 4. This campus was not singled out. Jewish community centers in 17 states also received threats the same day on Jan. 9. It is pretty obvious that some one or some group of people is actively seeking to intimidate Jewish communities across the United States. Thank goodness all the threats were false. However, with each call, the police with their bomb-sniffing dogs came immediately. The streets were closed off. Twice... Full story
For those who did not see this Channel 9 Investigative report there was a Radical Syrian cleric—Sheikh Mohammed Rateb Al-Nabulsi, who openly calls for the death of Jews and gays—speaking in Central Florida earlier this month. Al-Nabulsi found a welcoming home at the Islamic Society of Central Florida (Imam Musri’s Mosque), AlBir Mosque in Kissimmee, Islamic Society of Pinellas County Mosque, and an Embassy Suites Banquet Hall in Tampa for the American Muslim Leadership Council of Tampa. Al-Nabulsi wrote a paper called “Lesson 35: Ruling... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—On Jan. 18, 2015, Argentine terrorism prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head in what was almost certainly murder, not suicide. Whoever murdered him didn’t just want to kill him but rather his body of work. They wanted to bury the revelations he was about to make the very next day in front of the country’s Congress. Nisman was in charge of investigating the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center that killed 85 people, making it Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack. He assembled compell... Full story
A glimmer of hope in the fight against Iranian-backed terrorism shone forth from Argentina during the final days of 2016. A federal appeals court ruled that former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner will face a new investigation over allegations that she and her close colleagues made a secret pact with the Iranian regime over the probe into the July 1994 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Eighty-five people were murdered and hundreds were wounded on that fateful day, when a... Full story
In his recent speech about Israel and the Palestinians, Secretary of State John Kerry unfairly blamed Israel and minimized Palestinian violence. But he also did something else: he grievously dishonored the African-American civil rights movement, just weeks before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In his Dec. 28 address at the State Department, Kerry recited a litany of accusations against Israel. The unkindest cut of all was his charge that Israeli policies are creating “segregated enclaves” for Palestinians and a “separate but unequal” system for Is... Full story
Only three days passed between the political storm triggered by the verdict against Elon Azaria, the Israeli soldier who shot an unarmed Palestinian attacker, and the terror by heavy truck that killed four IDF officer cadets and wounded others. Immediately after the attack some of the cadets found themselves criticized for seeking cover rather than opening fire against the driver of the truck, even while others did what they were trained to do and killed the Palestinian. The Interior minister announced that he would rescind the residence permit... Full story
Two days into my first Taglit-Birthright Israel trip, during which I led a group of 40 Americans around Israel, I heard the news of the Obama administration’s unprecedented refusal to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s settlement policies. As an American immigrant to Israel who has many times heard President Barack Obama reaffirm the unbreakable alliance between the U.S. and Israel, the news was a bitter reminder of his administration’s hypocrisy as well as the U.N.’s disproportionate condemnation of Israel,... Full story
Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center will be giving a benediction at Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration ceremony Jan. 20. Liberal Jews are petitioning Hier to decline the honor, charging that it will give legitimacy to some 21st-century version of the Third Reich. In how many nation-states outside of Israel would a rabbi be asked to give the benediction at the swearing-in of a national leader? Perhaps if Jewish liberals began with this question, they might be more capable of confronting the sheer obscenity of what they are d... Full story
My dad is coming from the U.S. to visit us in Israel this week. As always, we will devote one morning to praying at the Western Wall (Kotel). As always, he will stop by the hugest worn-off stone—his regular spot—pull out a brown wallet and take out a pack of Post-it notes covered in Russian scribbles. As always, he will read the prayers and requests on those yellow squares and then will stuff them into a crevice between the stones. And then, he’ll cry for a few minutes before walking away. For generations, whenever a Jew announced his plans... Full story
You can make a strong case that President Barack Obama’ s decision to allow United Nations Security Council resolution 2334 to pass was very harmful to Israel. By endorsing the anti-Israel narrative that every square inch of territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war—including the Jewish Quarter in East Jerusalem and the Western Wall—is “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” and that Jewish presence in those areas is a “flagrant violation of international law,” Obama didn’t just throw renegade West Bank settlers to the wolves—he threw all of Isra... Full story
Like many others, I sat at my computer with baited breath Wednesday waiting for Secretary of State John Kerry to explain the background to the U.S. abstention on the United Nations Security Council vote. And explain he did. But there were so many things wrong with what I will call Kerry’s farewell anti-Israel speech: • Spending 45 minutes on settlements, and 45 seconds on terrorism. • Claiming the Palestinians “live under Israeli military occupation” when 98 percent of them live under the Palestinian Authority (PA). • Condemning Israeli con... Full story
I’ll indicate in advance that this is a personal and rambling note, promoted by several responses to what I wrote about the recent decision of the UN Security Council. And it is by no means the first time I’ve been provoked by what I’ve received from my Internet friends. Several responses have detailed a century’s worth of agreements, resolutions, et al, with different correspondents producing greatly different conclusions as to what it all means for international law and the obligations or opportunities of Israel. This interchange has led me t... Full story
Considering the perspectives of the Israeli and Palestinian populations, and seeing the reality on the ground, a two-state solution seems like the best option for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The Media’s Perspective Let’s begin by briefly summarizing, in broad brush-strokes, the commonly-available information from the media on Arab and Israeli attitudes towards the existing situation. Palestinian Arabs • A small minority agree on a two-state solution in order to have a peaceful life and prosperity, but they seek a solution that... Full story
Following my articles taking to task President Obama and John Kerry and their stabbing Israel in the back I received many replies. The vast majority were supportive and expressed embarrassment by the Obama-Kerry tag teaming. Some apologized and made sure I knew their vindictive behavior did not reflect that of the American people. One email led to a thoughtful discussion I would like to excerpt here. A friend wrote: “I read your article with much interest. However, (I’m) a bit puzzled. While I believe (in) and support the Zionist dream..., I a... Full story
As the sanctity of the Sabbath, the day of rest, set over Israel, two stabbings hit close to home and were jarring personally and nationally. The first took place in our neighborhood Friday evening. Despite the lack of use of electronics as is customary on Shabbat in traditional Judaism, word spread throughout town like a game of “telephone.” No one person got all the details correct, but the gist was clear: early Friday evening, a couple was out for a walk on the brisk clear night. Our 11-year-old sons are close friends. Out of the sha... Full story
The United Nations resolution condemning Israeli settlements comes in the wake of two other U.N. resolutions, passed by the UNESCO cultural body in October, that denied the historic and biblical relationship between the Jews and the land of Israel. The U.N. can pass resolutions, but it can neither change history nor alter reality. America’s abstention and refusal to use its veto power on an anti-Israel measure at the U.N. was a betrayal of historic proportions. For the Jewish alt-left such as the New Israel Fund and J Street, which is supported... Full story
In a recent article, Caroline Glick, a staff writer for the Jerusalem Post, takes aim at what she sees developing in the American Jewish community. Her targets include Jews supporting Obama, Clinton, and others of the Democratic Party establishment, their embarrassment at the election of Donald Trump, and their angst about Trump’s nomination of David Friedman as the next U.S. ambassador to Israel. Things have gone further, with an intemperate speech by John Kerry and a shrill response by Benyamin Netanyahu. If we’re cousins, we’re in the midst... Full story
WASHINGTON, D.C.,—At year-end, efforts are being made to disrupt the transition process of President-elect Donald Trump by crowds of disgruntled protestors. In response, Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens published the following opinion article today: The political left suffers from ‘sore loser syndrome’ in the wake of the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. It’s not uncommon for depression to set in when the candidate of your choice loses an election, but the pathetic parade... Full story
In 1989, following her tenure as President Ronald Reagan’s ambassador to the UN, Jeane Kirkpatrick described how the Palestinians have used the UN to destroy Israel. Following outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama’s assault on Israel at the UN Security Council last Friday, longtime UN observer Claudia Rossett wrote an important article at PJMedia where she recalled Kirkpatrick’s words. In “How the PLO was legitimized,” published in Commentary, Kirkpatrick said that Yassir Arafat and the PLO worked “to come to power through international diplomac... Full story
In July 2006, Israel fought a bitter defensive war against the Lebanese Islamist organization Hezbollah. The hostilities, which saw thousands of rockets fired at Israel by Hezbollah terrorists, as well as the displacement of nearly 500,000 Israelis from their homes, ended one month later with a United Nations-brokered cease-fire. Hezbollah had been temporarily chastened, but the disarmament demanded by the U.N. Security Council never happened, and the threat it poses has only grown during the intervening decade, most recently demonstrated by... Full story
