Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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What would have happened if Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin hadn’t been murdered? Would history have been altered? Not according to former IDF Intelligence head and Labor Party frontbencher, Amos Yadlin, speaking last week. “He would have lost the elections in any event to Binyamin Netanyahu in ‘96. The public atmosphere in the country was that the Oslo process failed, the terror attacks of [Islamic] Jihad and Hamas were unacceptable and Rabin himself would have reconsidered Oslo. I have no doubt that he lost his trust, if he even had i... Full story
Last week, the media carried what on the surface appeared to be an insignificant story on the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s announcement of plans to shut down its Philadelphia consulate, along with four other closings involving embassy and consulate services in the Caribbean and Europe. But upon a second reading of this news, it appears to be a much larger story! We are reminded that Philadelphia represents the sixth-largest Jewish community in the United States, with an estimated population of 214,000 (Berman Jewish DataBank). Beyond its h... Full story
Dear Editor: Ms. Wendy Wisner’s touching concern for the so-called Muslim refugees (Heritage, Jan. 8, 2016, Page 12) with analogies to the Jewish Holocaust victims is naïve and inappropriate. Before the U.S. entered World War II, Jewish victims of Nazism were not welcomed there as refugees but permitted to come to the U.S. only under the quota immigration laws—with affidavits from relatives guaranteeing that they would not require welfare support when they arrived. Many, like my family, waited five years or longer before receiving a visa to com... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—In 1914, Robert Frost published his poem “Mending Wall,” where he coined the maxim, “Good fences make good neighbors.” Those were the days of World War I, and it was perceived at that time that the best way to safeguard international relations and world peace was to clearly demarcate the physical borders between countries. Two decades later, around the time of World War II, the concept of sovereignty had changed to include more than merely defending a country’s territory. The understanding that foreign governments were able t... Full story
Brazil says it will not confirm the Israeli ambassador-designate to the South American nation, Dani Dayan, because it does not want to “show support for the settlement enterprise,” for which Dayan has been an activist. But anyone familiar with Brazilian history knows that it has an extensive “settler” history of its own. The Portuguese settler leader Pedro Alvares Cabral is said to have “discovered” Brazil in the year 1500, although the indigenous tribes living there since time immemorial no doubt saw things differently. The natives num... Full story
A video showing young and religious Israeli men—along with at least one enthusiastic old man—dancing at a wedding and celebrating the killing of an Arab family has gone viral. It’s not “dancing” of the ballroom kind familiar in the better circles of the West, but men only jumping up and down to the beat of music, along with words that urge violence toward Israel’s enemies. Women may be doing something similar in another room, but outside the range of this video. It’s the kind of dancing common at religious weddings, but here with the celebrati... Full story
This week, I was able to talk to many Jewish students from around the world (including a friend from my alma mater who is visiting Israel) about what it is like to be a Jewish student on their university campuses. I graduated from college just about a year and a half ago, and although much has stayed the same, it’s getting more difficult for Jewish students. When I entered college in 2010, my professors were accommodating when I needed to miss class for the high holidays. Yet there always seemed to be a bonding event on Yom Kippur, and I had t... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—If you want to understand why the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, or BDS, has gained so much ground in the past two years, look no further than intersectionality, the study of related systems of oppression. Intersectionality holds that various forms of oppression—racism, sexism, classism, ableism, and homophobia—constitute an intersecting system of oppression. In this worldview, a transcendent white, male, heterosexual power structure keeps down marginalized groups. Uniting oppressed groups, the theory goes, stren... Full story
A year ago today (Jan. 7, 2016), the world was stunned by the events unfolding in Paris. First, brothers Sherif and Said Kouachi—both masked, dressed in black, and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles—forced their way into the editorial offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine, killing 12, including staff members, security personnel, and a guest. The next day, a lone gunman armed with a pistol and a machine gun shot several people in a Paris suburb, killing a policewoman. And the following day, while the brothers were engaged in an 8-hour sta... Full story
Next month marks the first anniversary of the death of Alberto Nisman, the Argentine federal prosecutor who spent a decade investigating the 1994 Iranian-backed bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires. In that massacre, 85 people were murdered and hundreds more injured. Nisman’s lifeless body, readers will remember, was discovered in the bathroom of his Buenos Aires apartment on Jan. 18, 2015—the night before he was due to elaborate on his formal complaint against the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in fron... Full story
OK, so 2015 was a bummer. But we are a people with a tradition of looking to the future with hope—and having a sense of humor. So here’s my prediction for the major news stories of 2016: January: In the midst of a winter heat wave, Madison Square Garden cancels Ice Capades show due to melting ice; Republicans abruptly cancel outdoor “Global Warming Is A Myth” rally in Minnesota after key speakers suffer sunstroke. February: On the eve of Super Tuesday primaries, Donald Trump announces his vice presidential running mate: Nicole “Snooki... Full story
It was possible to hope that this wave of violence was winding down. Soon after Friday prayers at the mosques, there was not much more excitement than routine stone throwing at a light rail train as it passed by an Arab neighborhood. For some time now, the management of the rail line has coated the windows with material that prevents serious damage. Then began an event that has occupied Israel’s media more than anything earlier. It also revealed some of the complexities that suggest the conflict is endless, with ups and downs in outbreaks. A gu... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Yet again the Israeli Knesset is considering legislation to single out and punish progressive nongovernmental organizations, particularly the human rights groups that are such a thorn in the side of those who favor the continued occupation of the West Bank. Carefully constructed to evade the inevitable legal challenges it would face if passed, the legislation approved by a Knesset committee this week would require representatives of organizations receiving foreign government funding to identify themselves as such in every p... Full story
BALTIMORE (JTA)—No spoilers here, but you must have noticed by now that “Star Wars” is everywhere. With the recent release of “The Force Awakens,” everyone from die-hard to casual fans are analyzing all aspects of the movie, from the posters to the cameos. The big questions fans are asking: Will this “Star Wars” film live up to the originals in the franchise? Will it be faithful and convey the same meaning? Does the new generation at the helm have what it takes to tell the story in as compelling a way as the generation that preceded it? These a... Full story
State Department officials and Middle East “experts” are always warning us that if the Palestinian Authority collapses, Israel will be harmed because Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation will come to an end. But an incident in Ramallah this week makes one wonder if that “security cooperation” really exists at all. The Palestinian news agency “Ma’an” boasted on Dec. 22 that “Palestinian police ordered Israeli Border Police forces out of the Beituniya area of western Ramallah and threatened to use their weapons if they refused, local... Full story
The most recent Republican presidential debate was a breath of fresh air on the terrorism challenge that is front and center in American politics right now. To begin with, it was heartening to see Jeb Bush, whose quest to secure the nomination is all but over, remind Americans that he can be a clear and insightful thinker and leader. As he lambasted Donald Trump for the latter’s stupid and bigoted proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, Bush pointed out a few indubitable truths, most importantly concerning the Kurds. “We nee... Full story
December 22, 2015 I didn’t cry when I first saw the Western Wall, but I bawled like a baby when I first visited Ellis Island. I thought about this over the weekend as I watched Brooklyn, director John Crowley’s emotionally devastating adaptation of Colm Toibin’s 2009 novel about an Irish woman who comes to the United States as an immigrant in the early 1950s. I cried when she said goodbye to her mother and sister at the docks in Ireland. I cried when she passed through a door into her new world. Mostly, I cried over each of the kindnesses paid... Full story
Imagine Donald Trump as the leader of the free world. It may be something we have to get used to. Coming after eight years of Barack Obama, who came after George W. Bush, who came after Bill Clinton, one can wonder what made America great. A population of 320 million and the world largest economy had a great deal to do with it, along with being the last country standing at the end of the most recent world war, and still having the greatest military assets. However, 1945 was a long time ago. Those of us who remember it are too old to be relied... Full story
(JTA)—Ever wonder if Bernie Sanders is good for the Jews? How about Andy Warhol? The pope? 9/11? The Diaspora? Alexander the Great? Drake? The year 5775? These questions and many more have all been asked and answered. Apparently a lot of people still see this as a useful metric. “Is it good for the Jews?” is as much a punchline as a question. And yet, whether the question is asked explicitly or not, there remains a corner of our community that brings a “good for the Jews” mentality to every concern. A recent JTA Op-Ed was titled “Why campus ant... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—In the wake of the terrorist sprees in Paris and San Bernardino, world attention has fixated on the danger posed by the Islamic State to the West. While certainly merited, the acronym ISIS is not the only four-letter word to worry about. Iran is another. Iran? Wasn’t that pushed to the back burner by the nuclear deal reached this summer? According to what the White House at the time called a “historic agreement,” Iran was to take a number of specific steps to ensure the world that it was suspending its nuclear program in return... Full story
The Arab journalist whom the New York Times has hired to report on Israel has come up with the most “terrifying” example yet of Israeli oppression: the issuing of parking tickets to Palestinians. The reporter, Diaa Hadid, who describes herself as “an Australian of Lebanese & Egyptian descent,” previously served as public relations officer for the pro-Palestinian group “Ittijah.” Its director, Amir Makhloul, is in an Israeli prison for espionage on behalf of Hezbollah terrorists. Hadid’s resume also includes a stint as a columnist for the anti-... Full story
Even before the dust settled on the happy headlines proclaiming that after 30 years in federal prison, Jonathan Pollard was being released, we discovered that his release wasn’t the end of his sad saga. Pollard’s parole conditions are draconian. For the next five years he will be under curfew, barred from stepping outside his apartment after 7 pm. He is prohibited from surfing the Internet. Anyone hiring him will be required to allow law enforcement authorities full access to their computers. Pollard already lost one job due to this con... Full story
ORLANDO (JTA)—Standing before the burning bush, Moses asks of God, “Mi anochi?” Who am I to be the one who goes to Pharaoh? Though there are many reasons why Moses may have asked the question, a tip-off to what is really on Moses’ mind comes just a few verses later when Moses reminds God that he is “slow of speech and tongue.” In most commentaries, this is interpreted to mean that Moses has a severe speech impediment. God’s response to Moses’ disability is powerful. God wants him for his leadership qualities notwithstanding his disability, and... Full story
The massacre in San Bernardino by an Islamist husband-and-wife terror team forces us to recognize, once again, that the United States has to choose between isolationism and internationalism in its foreign policy. Put another way, it’s a choice between disengaging from the world’s most febrile regions, in the hope that doing so will put us out of harm’s way and rein in our “imperial” instincts, or actively engaging on our own terms, in the expectation that we can effectively counter rogue regimes and terrorist groups. This is where we get to a... Full story
By Christine DeSouza It is unbelievable how people rewrite history. On the Israel Video Network (www.israelvideonetwork.com) a Costco smoothie demonstrator was videoed as she proceeded to slam Jews. Standing in front of a food demonstration in a Costco in the San Francisco Bay area, two men were having a discussion when an employee interrupted them to say that Jews should leave Israel because “it is Palestinian land,” and that they should “go back where they came from.” “Where is that?” one of the men asked. “Go back to Europe,” she... Full story
