Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 2701 - 2725 of 3644
To mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was Jan. 27, and remember another notorious event that would come nearly 50 years after the Holocaust, the Baku International Center for Multiculturalism and Baku Slavic University recently organized a high-level round table event titled “The Holocaust and Khojaly Through the Eyes of Contemporaries.” An event dedicated to the study and remembrance of the Holocaust held in Azerbaijan, a Muslim-majority nation? Azerbaijan is located at the crossroads of many cultures and has played a sem... Full story
Dear Editor: In reference to the Feb. 25 meeting at the Holocaust Center about Jewish and Muslim immigrants, it was interesting to hear the history of Americans’ perceptions of immigrants over the last 100 years as Mitch Bloomer explained it. I have friends on all sides of the specter: Jews, Christians, Muslims, blacks and Mexicans—all of whom have been at one time or another immigrants to this great land. However, I do not believe that Muslim immigrants are on equal ground at this time in history with Jews, blacks and Mexican immigrants. Blo... Full story
Two of my favorite television shows are about what I think it’s fair to call the “New America.” In Master of None, on Netflix, Indian-American comedian Aziz Ansari plays a struggling actor in a very real and recognizable New York. His best friend is the son of Chinese immigrants. His girlfriend is white. And the plots have revolved, pointedly but never heavy-handedly, around the portrayal of minorities in mainstream media, and the struggles of immigrants chasing the American dream. In Transparent, on Amazon, an alarmingly and hilariously dysfu... Full story
We made Aliyah from Boca Raton, Florida, on the very first Nefesh B’Nefesh flight. That ground-breaking day has become the beginning of a revolution as many thousands more have since followed. When people hear that I moved to Israel from beautiful Florida they are often surprised. And I never fail to be surprised that they’re surprised! I didn’t move to Israel because of a pros and cons list comparing Israel and Florida. Rather I moved because I believe that Israel is where Jews truly belong; and because I could. That’s not to say all Jews mu... Full story
Americans consider a house of worship a place of peace where one practices ones’ faith, not preaches hate. While Islamic houses of worship (Mosques) are used for prayer, studies show many Mosques and Islamic centers are used to preach jihad, hate and violence. After their study In 1998 Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabban testified to the State Department that of the 114 mosques they visited in the United States 80 percent taught Islamic extremism. David Yerushalmi and Mordechai Kedar’s study “Shari’a and Violence in American Mosques,” claims 81... Full story
The stunning rise of a narcissistic blowhard like Donald Trump may be absurd, irrational and even embarrassing, but there’s a very rational idea that is keeping the Trump phenomenon alive: A large number of Americans are sick and tired of seeing their country get ripped off. No, it didn’t start with Barack Obama. It was President George W. Bush’s $3 trillion escapade into the quicksand of Iraq that kicked off the rip-off era. Think of what America could have done with that money. For starters, it could have repaired decaying infrastructure, fed... Full story
Just when you thought Secretary of State John Kerry couldn’t get any weaker on the problem of Palestinian incitement and violence, he did. Kerry met with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman, Jordan, on Feb. 21, against a backdrop of daily Palestinian stabbings of Israeli women and children, and non-stop anti-Jewish incitement in the official PA press, radio, and television. Yet the secretary of state did not threaten to withhold the Obama administration’s annual $500 million aid package to the PA over the inc... Full story
CHICAGO (JTA)—The ideals of open dialogue, debate and civil discourse are pillars of university life. Today, these mainstays of higher education are beginning to crumble with fissures developing over issues of race, gender and, most recently, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which now threatens to topple the tower of free speech itself. On Feb. 18, Bassem Eid, a venerable Palestinian human rights activist, was forced to end his remarks early at the University of Chicago because an anti-Israel protester reportedly threatened him with p... Full story
Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, this week sounded an unusually strong—and therefore welcome—warning about the continuing bias against Israel in the corridors of the world body. On a visit to Israel, Power spoke publicly about the experience of ZAKA, an Israeli humanitarian aid organization, in its efforts to gain accreditation at the U.N. After describing Zaka’s venerable record of assistance not just in Israel, but in New York City after the 9/11 atrocities and in Haiti after the devastating earthquake there... Full story
Why are we involved in a 12-centuries-old war? Shiites and Sunnis have been at it since the death of Mohamed. I have written before about “Sykes-Picot” the agreement that whacked up the Middle East between England and France during WWI and how their placement of dictators and kings (mostly Sunni) in the countries they “invented” brought some stability; albeit with horrible human rights abuses to the people of those so-called countries. So, George Bush broke the covenant, the Arab Spring has become a winter of death and destruction. Let’s f... Full story
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is backtracking, a little, on her remark last week that “there is a special place in hell” for women who failed to endorse Hillary Clinton. Writing on the op-ed page of the New York Times, Albright did not apologize or withdraw the comment, but she did concede that it was “undiplomatic” of her to say what she said. Indeed, friends of Israel have had bitter experiences with Albright’s “undiplomatic moments.” During the 2014 Gaza War, Albright told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that Israel’s anti-terrorism a... Full story
The wave of terror directed against Israelis by Palestinians certainly harms Israelis. It hurts the victims, mostly civilians, and their families. It also frightens most Israelis, making them feel less secure. Yet arguably, this Palestinian violence harms the Palestinians much more. This is not merely the rhetoric of pro-Israel advocates. Rather, a growing number of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs are bravely making these observations. They are fearlessly speaking out for the sake of their own people, whose future, they believe, is seriously... Full story
(JTA)—On the morning of Dec. 1, 1988, a group of about 70 Jewish women entered the sacred space of the Western Wall. The women represented all the major streams of Judaism. Some wore prayer shawls or kippahs. Some did not. One woman cradled a Torah in her arms. Together, their voices rose in prayer, marking the beginning of a movement. From that day until now, the Women of the Wall have fought for the right of women to pray together at Judaism’s holiest site—out loud, with tallit, tefillin and the Torah. It has been no easy task. For the past... Full story
If you discriminate against the only Jewish country in the world, is that anti-Semitism? Let’s take the European Union (EU), which routinely discriminates against the Jewish state. Among the numerous “occupied territories” around the world, for example, the EU has singled out only the Jewish state for special labeling of products from those territories. Is that anti-Semitism? A less well-known example of EU discrimination comes from the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), a group that aims to improve democracy and human... Full story
9 may well be remembered as the year that Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel finally died its death—in a clinical sense, at least. Across the U.S., state legislatures are passing bills that will outlaw state authorities from investing public funds in, and entering into contracts with, companies and other entities that engage in a boycott of Israel. This doesn’t mean that engaging in a boycott of Israel is illegal, but for anyone who cares about their bottom line, the legislation should provide a powerful inc... Full story
Brit Shalom (Peace Treaty, 1925) is a landmark in the continuing activity of Jews talking among themselves about what kind of accommodation they should, and can reach then with Arab now with Palestinian neighbors. What has become characteristic is the prominence in Brit Shalom of Jews from Europe and America, non-Orthodox or not firmly identified as religious. Since Brit Shalom there have been countless individuals, groups, political movements, and parties seeking to find or claiming to know what it would take to reach an agreement with... Full story
France’s announcement that it will try to convene an international conference to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been strongly criticized by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But before anyone concludes that only “right-wingers” oppose such a conference, it’s worth recalling that one of the most outspoken critics of the conference idea was prominent peace process player Yitzhak Rabin. The year was 1985, and Rabin—later the co-signer of the Oslo Accords with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat—was Israel’s defense minis... Full story
By Alan Kornman The Atlantic Institute will be partnering with the Maitland Holocaust Center and the Interfaith Council of Central Florida on a special program titled, “Is History Repeating Itself? Jewish and Muslim Immigrant Experiences in America,” scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 25 at the Holocaust Center. The Atlantic Institute is partnered with the Alliance for Shared Values, which is openly affiliated with the Gülen Movement’s Hizmet social initiatives in the United States. On their website, the Atlantic Institute praises Fethullah Gülen... Full story
Dear Editor: I am writing in response to David Bornstein’s editorial on Feb. 12. For the second consecutive year, David Bornstein has chosen to write an editorial which seeks to encourage members of the Orlando Jewish community to “sit this one out” when it comes to our community agencies (especially the Jewish Academy of Orlando). Last year, I encouraged him to stop by the JAO and take a tour. I’m not sure whether or not he took me up on that offer but had he visited, he would have noticed several developments. He would have visited the sch... Full story
With the public announcement that David Wayne, executive director of the Jewish Community Center, is moving on to a new phase in his life, and the JCC is conducting a nationwide search for a new director, questions inevitably arise regarding the change. While I am not privy to the inner workings of the agency, or any behind-the-scenes reasons for his departure, a few points can easily be made. First, there are no questions or doubts about the integrity or decency of Mr. Wayne. He has always... Full story
“When in Rome, do as the Iranians do.” That was the core message emerging from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Europe this week, in a bid to boost trade relations now that the sanctions related to Tehran’s nuclear program have been lifted. Arriving at Rome’s venerable Capitoline Museum for a meeting with his Italian counterpart, Mateo Renzi, Rouhani was swiftly escorted past the museum’s priceless collection of Roman statues, including many nudes that had been covered up—yes, really—to avoid offending the sensibilities o... Full story
We’ve had another round of clamoring about who is responsible for the failure of Israelis and Palestinians to reach an agreement ending their disputes. There are two fronts in the recent verbiage. One consists of accusations by Mahmoud Abbas and Benyamin Netanyahu about one another’s willingness to meet. Another concerns the prospect that a former commander of the IDF, Gabi Ashkenazi, will enter politics as a moderate, and lead one or another party to make peace with the Palestinians. Both fronts are convoluted by other considerations, and we... Full story
Last week Jews worldwide were treated to two stabbings, one murdering a Jewish mother of six bereaved children. The consequence of the second is the imminence of more to come. The immediate threat is to Jews, but there are many reasons why everyone should care. In Israel, Dafna Meir, a Jewish mother of six, was stabbed to death fighting off an Arab terrorist who broke into her home. Her children were home as she struggled with the terrorist to protect them. Her actions were selfless and heroic, and her death equally sad and grotesque. Israelis... Full story
Followers of Islam face a growing threat of becoming a pariah community in the United States, as a consequence of now frequent acts of mass-murder committed by co-religionists here and abroad. Horrified by the war in Syria, violence in Africa, and in about 50 areas around the world, where Muslims interface with non-Muslims, and Muslims of different sects, disgust and fright at the rise of the Islamic State, cause otherwise tolerant Americans to set aside natural instincts for acceptance of others and their religion. Widespread violence in the... Full story
(JTA)—The relationship between Israel and American Jews is a complicated mix of good news and bad news, and this week’s government compromise on the Western Wall, or Kotel, is a case in point: It’s a step forward in providing access for non-Orthodox Jews, but may also reinforce the reality that the main plaza doesn’t welcome Reform or Conservative Jews, who comprise the majority of affiliated American Jews. The main Kotel plaza may never accommodate non-Orthodox prayer, but a new poll by the Ruderman Family Foundation provides some hope an... Full story
