Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2651 - 2675 of 3644
A lie conceals the truth. And ugly but hidden truths never have a chance of being acknowledged, addressed, and ultimately ameliorated. Because of this simple truism, one of the greatest lies of our age—that violence committed in the name of Islam has nothing to do with Islam—has made an intrinsically weak Islam the scourge of the modern world, with no signs of relief on the horizon. One of the latest manifestations of this lie took place in Pakistan. On Easter Sunday, March 27, a suicide bombing took place near the children rides of a pub... Full story
Silly me. When I heard reports throughout Israeli national media about three Palestinian Arab youth missing for nearly two weeks, I was concerned on two parallel levels. First I was concerned that because if Israeli media was reporting the missing youth, there must have been serious concern that something bad had happened to them: Something so bad that it was even relevant to Israelis and noteworthy in our media. It’s rare that Israeli kids go missing as in other western countries making the notion of Amber Alerts quite foreign. We have other c... Full story
ELKINS PARK, Pa. (JTA)—The Conservative movement’s leadership must drop its ban on Conservative rabbis officiating at interfaith weddings—before it’s too late. The Rabbinical Assembly’s unequivocal rule is that a Conservative rabbi may not officiate at an intermarriage. But after 42 years as an active rabbi, during which I abided by that prohibition, I now believe it is no longer in the best interests of Conservative Judaism or the Jewish community. Reality has overtaken us. Sixty percent of Jews who wed marry someone from another faith. Th... Full story
JTA invited supporters of the five leading Republican and Democratic contenders for their parties’ presidential nomination to submit opinion pieces in support of their candidate.... Full story
(JTA)—I am executive vice president and chief legal officer of The Trump Organization. I have been working with Donald Trump for over 19 years. I am an observant, committed Jew. What comes to my mind when I think of Donald Trump? Inspiration. He inspires people of all kinds to work hard and do their best. He inspires people to dream and fosters an environment where people can advance their dreams. He will not take no for an answer, and he crafts creative solutions to problems. Loyalty. Many of his employees have worked for him for 20 to 30 y... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—On April 19, in the New York Democratic primary, I voted for Bernie Sanders. I’ve got three good reasons for doing so. Sanders is incomparably better on fighting for social equality. He’s more pro-Israel than Clinton. And he’s more electable. Since the late 1960s, the distances among the rich, middle class and poor have grown wider. The power of the small economic elite has also surged. And the growing gap has concentrated alarming levels of political influence and social isolation in the hands of the very few. Senator Sanders... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Today, Israel is surrounded by more turmoil than ever, and the world also presents great challenges to the United States. Iran is developing missile technology that can reach Israel, and providing ever-more-sophisticated rockets to Hezbollah and Hamas. Russia is making aggressive military movement from Ukraine to Syria. China is claiming new territory and seeking to militarize the South China Sea. At such a perilous time for the Jewish state and for the U.S., supporters of Israel in the Democratic Party—both Jews and non... Full story
SILVER SPRING, Md. (JTA)—I want to tell you about the person I have worked with closely for the past two years. Sen. Ted Cruz is not just my boss, but has become my mentor and my friend. There is no greater friend of the Jewish people and of Israel. We started together in the summer of 2014, a very bitter and difficult summer, with a war raging between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Early that summer three innocent Israeli teenagers were kidnapped in the West Bank. Senator Cruz took to the Senate floor and spoke passionately about the boys in order... Full story
COLUMBUS, Ohio (JTA)—There are many opinions as to what criteria should be used in deciding who gets my fellow Republicans’ vote as their nominee for president of the United States. But I think the only valid question should be this one: Which candidate can actually beat Hillary Clinton in November? Do Republicans really want to be sitting here next year asking ourselves how we could have nominated someone who all the polls show was trailing the Democratic candidates by double digits? This is all the more painful for those of us who recognize t... Full story
Here’s the latest episode of outreach to Iran from the lips of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. After condemning, during a press conference in Bahrain, the “destabilizing actions” of Iran in the Middle East, he then followed up with a plea. “Help us end the war in Yemen,” Kerry implored the Tehran regime. “Help us end the war in Syria, not intensify, and help us to be able to change the dynamics of this region.” What do you call this? Naiveté? Hard-nosed realism? The actualization of President Barack Obama’s deeply held belief that Amer... Full story
A new Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorist group has emerged—and by appearances, it may be expanding. In less than two years, Harakat as-Sabeeren Nasran il-Filastin (The Movement for the Patient Ones for the Liberation of Palestine), also known as al-Sabireen, has committed several terrorist attacks against Israel, drawn worries from rival terror groups, and promoted its “brand” through an ambitious social media presence. Yet major U.S. print and online news outlets have failed to report the rise of this group, which calls for Israel’s destruc... Full story
Four issues in current headlines may be causing some Israelis to avoid the news, and embarrassment for our overseas friends, while they are sending other Israelis to various sides of virtual barricades. One is that young soldier who killed a Palestinian in Hebron. Another is the faltering deal to expand the plaza alongside the Western Wall so that non-Orthodox Jews can pray as they wish at Judaism’s iconic site. The third is the arousal of an issue associated with the newborn wards of Israeli hospitals, i.e., should Jewish and Arab women be p... Full story
(JTA)—The Israeli Supreme Court’s recent landmark ruling on conversion is a truly historic decision—for Israeli and American Jewry. While the case only concerns a few individuals, the general rules and unequivocal language have wide significance for both Israeli and American Jewry. The ruling represents another blow to the Israeli Chief Rabbinate’s monopoly on religious affairs; it strengthens a pluralistic approach to Judaism; and it upholds the principles of religious freedom and the rule of law. In the narrowest sense, the ruling affirme... Full story
It was ironic that the day The Atlantic monthly published what was supposed to be the definitive work on U.S. President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he was removing the bulk of his military forces from Syria. Jeffrey Goldberg’s long profile titled, “The Obama Doctrine,” sought to define the theoretical underpinning of Obama’s foreign policy. Goldberg devoted the bulk of his 20,000-word corpus to analyzing Obama’s policies in Syria, where, he offered, Obama finally broke free from foreign pol... Full story
Dear Editor: Last evening (Saturday, April 16) I attended a presentation by Israeli Druze families. Each had sons or brothers who died while serving in the IDF or Border Police. They shared their lives and their loses. It was an emotional and profound evening. It was a privilege to be among these devoted and brave citizens of Israel. I thank the sponsors of the event, the Orlando/Israeli nonprofit organization We’re With You, for making our lives richer and for their devotion and support to these families and to many more who have e... Full story
Over the years, I’ve spoken at or attended a number of academic conferences on the subject of rising anti-Semitism. Parleys like these are essential for boosting our understanding of why, seven decades after the end of the World War II, the taboo around anti-Semitic invective—whether directed at Jews as Jews, or through code words like “Zionists”—has been broken. Historians, sociologists, and political scientists, along with scholars from similar disciplines, all play a decisive role in determining how the trajectory of anti-Semitism changes e... Full story
No, the headline doesn’t refer to America’s president. I’m referring to the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas. But let’s keep President Barack Obama’s party, the Democrats, in mind as we examine the latest developments involving Abbas and his Fatah party. Established in 1964—long before there were any settlements or “occupied territories”—Fatah has long been the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and it carried out many of the PLO’s most notorious terrorist massacres. The 1972 Munich Oly... Full story
A recent visit with a young Japanese friend, a paratrooper in the IDF, provided an insight into the nature of Israel and other places. He said that fellow soldiers take him for Chinese or Korean, even though he explains that he comes from Japan. Israelis do a lot of traveling. It’s tough being cooped up in a small country with hostiles all around. We can reach Europe, depending on destination, with 30 minutes of flying (Cyprus), four hours (Italy or France), or five hours (Britain). There are more than four million departures annually by I... Full story
For some, the members of the Israeli NGO calling itself Breaking the Silence (BTS) are “whistleblowers” and human rights activists; for others, they are a tiny group of dangerous messianists who tour the world promoting anonymous and false allegations of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) war crimes. The recent exposé on Israel’s Channel 2 showing how they gather sensitive and potentially classified information on IDF tactics and equipment—far removed from any human rights claims—increased the suspicion and hostility with which they are viewed by... Full story
(Rabbis Without Borders via JTA)—There are two funny images I like to circulate this time every year as we approach the Passover holiday. The first is a cartoon of a truck with large text on the side reading Morty’s Passover Cleaning. On the driver’s side door is the word “chametz” inside a circle with line struck through it. Underneath the large Morty’s Passover Cleaning text on the side of the truck it reads: Orthodox $89.95, Conservative $49.95; Reform $19.95. The second image is of a person’s office cubicle completely covered in aluminum f... Full story
Yesterday a group of students from New York University came to visit Karnei Shomron. They were on a semester in Israel program and as part of a course on religion and politics, they were interested in how religious beliefs affected the settlement movement. They also wanted to learn more about the partnership between Jews and Christians on the settlement issue. I was eager to meet these young students but as soon as they entered, before I even had a chance to open my mouth and say anything, I was met by a feeling of distance, bordering on... Full story
Dear Editor: The Heritage issue of April 1 was particularly interesting notably for the various columns dealing with the presidential elections and AIPAC. After reading all of these columns, of course, I had my own thoughts and decisions on these very critical issues relating to the future presidency and the core issues that surround Israel and the Jewish people. As we approach the holiday of Passover, let us remind ourselves once again what took place between G-d and His covenanted people—Israel. The Jewish Liberal Democrats are ... Full story
For the past 10 years I have been living in a state of constant denial. “I’m still cool,” I’d tell myself. “I can go to rock concerts and fit right in.” “I haven’t lost a step on the tennis court.” “I’m still as good looking as I ever was.” All of these thoughts, as they raced through my mind, were meant to be affirming, but they were much closer to delusional. And while it can, at times, be healthy to delude oneself, to see someone else staring back at you in the mirror, to imagine your... Full story
The former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic finally received a modicum of justice this week, when a United Nations court in The Hague sentenced him to 40 years in prison for his monstrous war crimes. The 10 charges Karadzic was convicted of included his role in the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in the town of Srebrenica in July 1995. Those who remember that horrific event will recall that, along with the disgraceful buck-passing that stained the European response to that genocide, there was a more generalized disbelief that... Full story
An American friend, who is almost as old as I am, can’t remember a presidential election with worse choices. An internet friend wrote about a bumper sticker, “I hate them both.” Another likes ABC, Anybody but Clinton. The latter recalls a movement in the Knesset when the Members had to select a President in 2000: Anybody but Peres led to Moshe Katsav, currently seeking a parole. Activists are arguing if it should be granted to a man convicted of rape and other crimes, who has yet to admit his guilt and promise reform. Ms Clinton’s long record... Full story
