Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA)—As Israel turns 69, world Jewry is in a state of crisis. Israel and American Jewry are drifting apart, and within each of those groups we’re seeing increased polarization on fundamental issues like the two-state solution, Israel’s democratic vs. Jewish nature and the definition of who is a Jew. Rather than wallowing in malaise, I’d like to propose a solution that could resolve many of our challenges, a Grand Bargain fit for these chaotic times. I propose that we create a class of Jewish “citizenship” that will reinvent the relationshi... Full story
J Street, the left-wing group that claims to be staunchly opposed to Israeli settlements, has embraced an Israeli settlement. What? How can that be? This strange but true story began when the Israeli Knesset overwhelmingly adopted a law to prohibit the entry of foreign citizens who actively promote the BDS movement against Israel. The law does not prevent Israeli citizens from boycotting Israel. Their right to seek the destruction of their own country remains protected. The law does not block the entry of foreigners who happen to agree with... Full story
Some time ago I attended a “know your rights” workshop sponsored by an immigration rights organization near my home in Los Angeles. The attorneys conducting the workshop offered a broad array of ideas and suggestions, but one piece of advice stood out for me. It dealt with potential workplace raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, and the attorneys’ advice was straightforward: If you are told at your workplace to get into two lines—one for those “with papers” and one for those “without”—simply refuse. Stay in one... Full story
When the Obama administration managed to avoid a congressional vote on its nuclear deal with Iran in the fall of 2015 courtesy of a Democratic Senate filibuster, the argument surrounding the controversial agreement seemed to be over. That’s why Democrats are reacting with impatience and skepticism about statements from the Trump administration about re-evaluating the deal. Yet rather than an impotent gesture designed to distract us from a decision not to tear up the accord that President Donald Trump blasted throughout the 2016 election c... Full story
Dear Editor: With the recent and current influx of Muslim “refugees” coming into Europe and the United States, one has to ask, “Are these Muslims migrants, immigrants or are they invaders?” There is a drastic difference. The prophet Mohammed said, according to the Hadith, there are five responsibilities or charges for those who practice Islam. They were “to assemble, to listen, to obey, to immigrate and to wage jihad for the sake of Allah.” This is exactly what is happening with today’s immigration. This is also what is known as the “stealth... Full story
Israel observed Yom Hashoah—Holocaust Memorial Day—last week, pausing to remember the six million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. As Holocaust survivors age and die, it’s not long before our memory will be without the benefit of people who actually suffered and still bear witness to these unspeakable and unparalleled horrors. It’s all the more important to remember in light of Holocaust denial; claims that the Holocaust simply didn’t happen, that there was no systematic murder of European Jews, or that we are exagg... Full story
There’s always something to bother the Jews of Israel. Currently we’re smelling the preparations for a national election. Some may suspect that it wafts over the continent from Britain or France, but it comes from local pressures. The major responsibility may be those long-running police investigations into Sara and Bibi Netanyahu, with a lesser inquiry into one of their sons. Likud politicians are positioning themselves, still careful to say that they support the Prime Minister, but getting ready to replace him. Also playing the election game... Full story
I am loath to criticize other organizations that are trying to help students and combat the BDS campaign on college campuses; however, I have also felt an obligation to correct misinformation put out to create hysteria about the alleged dangers faced by Jewish students. Selective use of extraordinary incidents and flawed data have been disseminated to create a picture of campuses across the country being engulfed with anti-Israel activity and anti-Semitism, a portrayal that is simply inaccurate. Earlier this year, I criticized the AMCHA... Full story
Three opinion pieces on U.S. policy toward North Korea have appeared in the New York Times in the past week. They deserve critical comment. The writers are all very capable people who share a deep concern about Korea’s security and the possibility of a major blowup that would cause enormous human and material losses throughout the Asia Pacific. As a longtime student of Korean affairs, however, I find that these commentaries—which reflect analysis in the U.S. mainstream media generally—are narrowly focused and alarmist. They would make it seem... Full story
As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan assumed near-dictatorial powers following his dubious victory in a constitutional referendum April 16, Andrew Brunson, a Christian pastor from North Carolina, was marking his sixth month of incarceration inside a Turkish prison. Brunson, who has lived in Turkey with his family for the last 23 years, was the head of the Resurrection Church in the coastal city of Izmir—that is, until he was detained last October on the vague and unsubstantiated charge of “membership in an armed terrorist org... Full story
What is the one value that the Jewish community should care most about? To listen to many who run Jewish organizations and communal philanthropies, the answer is inclusion. At a time when it is difficult to engage young people, maintaining a “big tent” is a sacred concept. Drawing a line and declaring those on the other side to be outside the community is not merely seen as divisive, but as antithetical to the preservation of the community. But the left-wing group that calls itself Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) seems determined to prove tha... Full story
YouTube is one of the marvels of the Electronic age. You can play eight hours of the singers and jazz artists of the 1940s. You can take a Friday and play Yiddish and Israeli music all the way up to Shabbat. And then there are the other sites. Rachel and I were scrolling and typed in “History of the Jews.” The first video that came up was a vile attack on the Jews from some obscure group that shall remain nameless. Basically it said we had a chance given to us by God and blew it by not recognizing the Messiah and then killing Jesus. It the... Full story
In 1998, I was diagnosed with lung cancer. After chemotherapy and the removal of my left lung, have been cancer free for 19 years. Luckily, I am able to say that I am a lung cancer survivor. I am one of the lucky ones, because in our country, every five minutes a woman learns she has lung cancer. And the rate of new cases in women has almost doubled in the last 39 years. Yet getting tested for lung cancer is not a top-of-mind cancer concern for 98 percent of women. For many, early detection is key. Only 16 percent of people are diagnosed at an... Full story
Recently, I had a chance to spend a day with one of my closest friends from law school. Near the end of our time together, he shared the story of the passing of his mother whom I had the pleasure of meeting many decades ago. Towards the end the end of her life, she was hospitalized with pneumonia. The doctor told her oldest son that she would not be able regain her strength unless a feeding tube was inserted. Her son decided against the feeding tube on the grounds that his mother had lived a full life—she was then 96—and that the operation ent... Full story
I’ve written many times about the anti-Semitism that continues to plague the British Labour Party—once a noble party of both opposition and government that has now, under its current far-left leader Jeremy Corbyn, become a laughably ineffective opposition with little hope of attaining government leadership. One key reason for that involves the scandals around open expressions of anti-Semitism from party activists and leaders alike, discrediting the party among voters in general and forcing Jewish members to leave what was once their nat... Full story
Those cruel Israelis! Palestinian residents of Gaza just want some soccer balls and perhaps a few Frisbees, to help break the monotony of life under siege. Yet the insensitive Israeli authorities, enforcing their ruthless blockade, recently intercepted a shipment of innocent, humanitarian sporting goods that would have brought a little light to the dark of lives of Gaza’s children. That’s what you can expect pro-Palestinian human rights groups and their media supporters to report. The truth, however, is different. Very different. In an attempt... Full story
Eli Lake from Bloomberg set off a firestorm in the U.S. this week with his revelation that in the last six months of the Obama administration, Susan Rice, former president Barack Obama’s national security adviser, requested that the U.S. intelligence community enable her to use foreign intelligence collection as a means of gathering information about Donald Trump’s advisers. According to Lake’s story, during the course of the U.S. presidential campaign, and with steadily rising intensity after President Donald Trump won the November 2016 elect... Full story
When Mark Rosenblatt touched down at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv April 5 and powered on his cell phone, he got the surprise of his mobile technology life. Rosenblatt received a text message from his cell phone carrier, Verizon, reading, “Welcome to Palestine.” “I did a double take,” said Rosenblatt, a high-tech consultant from Edgemont, N.Y. He had traveled to Israel to see his daughter, who is studying in a master’s degree program at Bar-Ilan University. “I was shocked that an American company was falling into some BDS rhetoric,... Full story
Dear Editor: The international law which has permitted the United States (without UNSC approval) to carry out a missile attack in Syria against the crime of chemical attack on citizens by Pres. Assad and his government, can, as a logical conclusion, permit the U.S. (without UNSC approval) to arrest Pres. Assad and his government and produce them before an International Court for the war crime of using chemical weapons, and simultaneously to fill the vacuum by installing another government in Syria through elections. The U.S. military strike in... Full story
There was an illuminating report from Paris in The Wall Street Journal this week that related how Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, has been consulting a group of French bankers and captains of industry in a bid to continue the mainstreaming of her party as the country’s presidential election approaches. Named “Les Horaces,” in honor of imperial Rome’s most illustrious and politically astute poet, this collection of dignitaries is preparing Le Pen, who represents what has up until now been a perennial party of opposit... Full story
A group of Palestinians tried to burn some Israeli Jews to death March 23. Just another day in the Middle East. The four attackers drove up to the perimeter of the Jewish community of Beit El, north of Jerusalem, and began hurling firebombs toward homes there. A firebomb, also known as a Molotov cocktail, is of course a deadly weapon. It explodes on impact and unleashes a torrent of flames. We can all easily imagine what would happen if those firebombs had struck people or homes. Fortunately, Israeli soldiers immediately fired at the would-be m... Full story
I am learning more than just a language as I study Arabic. As I had hoped, it is allowing me a peek into a culture and mentality. For example, the other day I was riding my bike and stopped to say hello to a young Arab man employed by the city as a gardener. Turns out he is a neighbor of mine. He lives in Jebel Mukabar, which is in ear shot of where I live. I hear clearly (whether I want to or not) the call to prayer each morning from the powerful mosque loudspeakers. I knew enough Arabic to comment that his village has a bad reputation. Over t... Full story
President Donald Trump’s missile strike against Syria inaugurates a new chapter in the long and controversial history of American responses—and sometimes nonresponses—to mass murder around the world. Although the killing of Syrian civilians by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime does not technically constitute genocide—which the United Nations defined in 1948 as the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”—there is no doubt Assad has committed heinous and large-scale war crimes. Trump’s d... Full story
Yair Lapid is the current favorite to become prime minister the next time the Israeli people go to the polls to elect a new Knesset, at some point in the not-too-distant future. But whether or not the former television star who leads the centrist Yesh Atid party winds up succeeding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he has already done something that ought to influence international opinion about the Middle East conflict. The only question is whether those determined to impose their will on the Jewish state will listen. Last weekend, Lapid... Full story
Israel critic Peter Beinart has announced that when his children “near adulthood, I’ll encourage them to visit the West Bank.” Why? “So they can see for themselves what it means to hold millions of people... without free movement or due process,” he wrote in his column for The Forward. The Beinart children are in for quite a surprise. In his various articles and media appearances, Papa Beinart regularly accuses Israel of occupying and oppressing the Palestinians. I imagine that’s what the Beinart kids hear at the dinner table, too. But when th... Full story
