Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — On Oct. 7, Hamas had a Plan A and a Plan B. Plan A was to destroy Israel and kill all the Jews. Plan B was to pull back, stage ambushes and cry genocide while making up fake casualties and staging atrocities until its Islamist and leftist allies managed to save it, while using hostages and their bodies as negotiating leverage. Biden, who announced back in December that he had bailed out on supporting Israel, has now announced a deal that consists of three (actually 4) phases. Let me break it down. Phase 1. Hamas frees some surviving f...
(JNS) — The demonization of Israel and antisemitism on campus may be more intense than in the past, but it’s not new. This is why it is even more damning that the Jewish community was ineffective in acting before the smoke turned into a blaze. As early as 1983, I wrote about the propaganda war on campus in the Jewish newspaper in Berkeley, Calif. “We should not let ourselves be intimidated by individuals or crowds,” I wrote. One problem was that “there are very few students on this campus with the knowledge, articulateness and inclinati...
(JNS) — If you’re keeping track, Biden announced that America was going to spend two months building a floating pier to deliver aid to Gaza at a cost of $300 million that would be operated by the U.S. military. Then the pier came under attack by terrorists, was withdrawn to the Israeli port of Ashdod for repairs while the Biden administration conducted backchannel talks with Hamas urging it not to attack the pier, then redeployed for aid deliveries. And it’s been a smashing success. For Hamas. The good news was the Pentagon press secre...
(JNS) — An ex-U.S. State Department official believes that he has come up with a brand-new, innovative, never-before-tried way to reach peace in the Middle East: Give more territory to the Palestinian Authority. How many times will these guys try to sell us this bridge to nowhere? These same dangerous ideas? The “new” scheme is to give the Gaza Strip to the P.A. This proposal comes from David Makovsky, who used to be the right-hand man to Martin Indyk, the most pro-Palestinian U.S. ambassador to Israel in history. For more than 20 years, Makovs...
(JNS) — The open split been between the Biden administration and the Israeli government as to how Israel should conduct war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip has become a gut-wrenching policy dispute while the goal to expunge the terror organization is still ongoing. Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s recent public statement, “Israel is not a vassal state of the United States,” is evidence of how both pungent and exasperating policy and personal divergence has become. U.S. President Joe Biden has taken the bold step of dispatc...
(JNS) — The International Committee of the Red Cross explains the purpose of the rules of war by stating, “The rules of war or international humanitarian law are a set of international rules that set out what can and cannot be done during an armed conflict. The main purpose of international humanitarian law is to maintain some humanity in armed conflicts, saving lives and reducing suffering. To do that, international humanitarian law regulates how wars are fought.” “The rules of war are universal,” it claims. “The Geneva Conventions (which are...
(JNS) — There are increasing signs that the Jewish vote may be shifting away from the Democrats. A poll taken of New York voters in February showed that 53 percent of Jewish voters intend to vote for Donald Trump in November. A Bulwark article this month reported that Jewish donors appear to be moving towards the Republicans due to U.S. President Joe Biden’s troubling policies on the Israel-Hamas war. While there is a paucity of additional surveys on how Jews intend to vote in November, a Pew survey taken in February found that 89 percent of...
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs via JNS) — Only in the world of the absurd can a despicable purveyor of terror, Hamas, carry out a brutal massacre, killing over a thousand innocent people, torturing, murdering and carrying out sadistic mass rape, over a space of just a few hours, and then run home to Gaza taking with them hundreds of hostages. Only in the world of the absurd can the Palestinian representative organization that encourages, finances, supports and represents such murderers be feted and upgraded by the majority of member s...
(JNS) — As Israel marks its 76th anniversary, it celebrates its achievements while reflecting on the ongoing challenges it faces. Despite significant progress, Israel must still defend its right to exist and work to secure its future against persistent threats. This duality of celebration and vigilance highlights the ongoing narrative of a nation striving for stability and peace. Since its founding in 1948, Israel has been embroiled in conflicts that have shaped its national security policies and deeply influenced its international r...
(Jewish Journal via JNS) — In today’s cultural void, created by all-consuming political ideology and profound shallowness (cartoonishly filtered selfies, vapid “influencers,” incessant Instaporn), a soul of beauty has emerged to show the world that women still do have brains; creativity still exists; and Israel is still a light guiding us back to sanity. Israel’s Eurovision entrant Eden Golan seemed to emerge on the international stage fully formed, exuding not just immense talent but dignity, poise and almost ethereal grace. She made it to the...
(JNS) — For some time, right-wing Jewish activists have called for a “Jexit” from the Democratic Party. They believe that the Democrats are now an anti-Israel and increasingly antisemitic party. Thus, for Jews to continue their monolithic support for the Democrats is suicidal. American Jews have resisted the call, but post-Oct. 7 things may have changed. While President Joe Biden and much of his party strongly supported Israel after the massacre, many Democrats did precisely the opposite. The Red-Green Alliance between the progressive left and...
(JNS) — With polls indicating that U.S. President Joe Biden’s re-election chances are getting slimmer, his campaign advisers have been pushing him to the left and seeking to mollify progressives by more bellicosely criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and punishing Israel by suspending arms deliveries. The more voluble demonizers of the Jewish state are drowning out the pro-Israel majority within his base. If he doesn’t listen to them, perhaps he will heed the advice of veteran Democratic pollster Mark Penn, who expla...
(JNS) — Growing up, I was not one of the cool kids and was bullied a fair amount of the time. In middle school, one such bully used to incessantly pick on me. He was the weakest of the tough kids, so he had to make an example out of someone, so he chose the 60-pound sack of skin and bones that I happened to be in those days. “You better stop it, Jeff,” I warned him one day, as he kicked me. “Oh yeah, what are you going to do about it, wimp?” Something inside me snapped. I hauled off and punched him in the face. I remember the line of blood dri...
(JNS) — To the Columbia Community: Over the past six months, many have spoken in our name. Some are well-meaning alumni or non-affiliates who show up to wave the Israeli flag outside Columbia’s gates. Some are politicians looking to use our experiences to foment America’s culture war. Most notably, some are our Jewish peers who tokenize themselves by claiming to represent “real Jewish values,” and attempt to delegitimize our lived experiences of antisemitism. We are here, writing to you as Jewish students at Columbia University, who are conne...
As a Palestinian human rights activist, I feel compelled to weigh in on the ongoing military operation in Rafah, which has been often misrepresented in various circles. This operation, led by the Israel Defense Forces, is not merely a response to aggression but a crucial rescue mission aimed at freeing hostages, including U.S. citizens. The responsibility for this escalation lies squarely with the terrorist group Hamas, which has continuously rejected multiple ceasefire proposals and escalated violence against civilians. Hamas, entrenched in...
President Joe Biden’s decision to “pause” the delivery of smart bombs, artillery shells and other kinds of ammunition to Israel as a form of punishment for Israel’s sin of ignoring the president’s admonition not to invade Rafa fails to take into consideration a number of factors all of which are critical to U.S. national interests. The president based his decision on humanitarian concerns for the displaced citizens of Gaza who have relocated to Rafa, the only remaining city in Gaza not under Israel’s military control; and that there have alread...
(JNS) — I’m sure you’ve heard commentators describe the Islamic Republic of Iran and Israel as “rivals” engaged in a “tit-for-tat” conflict. That misinterprets reality. Ali Khamenei, Iran’s “supreme leader” since 1989, seeks to establish a new Middle Eastern empire. Israelis, by contrast, only want to survive as an independent nation within a slice of their ancient Jewish homeland. They would like nothing better than to enjoy amicable relations with Iranians, as they did prior to Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979. I should add: Substanti...
(JNS) — Some years ago, I heard Rabbi Manis Friedman tell a story about a man who overheard his friend telling his wife on the phone, “Drop dead!” “How can you speak that way to your wife?!” he demanded. The friend smiled and said, “She just asked me if her new dress was gorgeous, and I answered, ‘Yes, drop-dead.’” Hearing only half a conversation and drawing conclusions can be dangerous. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard stories about others that I didn’t want to believe; and indeed, upon investigation, they turned out to be either...
(JNS) — U.S. President Biden’s suspension of weapons deliveries to Israel places Deborah Lipstadt, the most prominent Jewish member of his administration, in quite a bind. How will she respond? Let us recall the example set by Mark Siegel in 1978. He was the Carter administration’s liaison to the Jewish community when President Jimmy Carter decided to provide deadly fighter jets to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The president expected Siegel to convince American Jews to accept the weapons deal. In early March 1978, Siegel addressed 900 young leaders o...
Antisemitism is on the rise across America and all over the world. What are Orlando Jews feeling and what can we do about it in these tumultuous times? I’ve realized since Oct. 7, with the massacre in Israel and the terrible war raging in the Middle East, I’ve been living with terrible feelings of disbelief, anger, frustration, depression and angst. These emotions are all related in a vicious cycle. First disbelief. It’s difficult to conceive of the level of evil perpetrated by Hamas on Oct 7 and painful to witness the death of civilians in Ga...
(JNS) — U.S. President Joe Biden’s approach to Israel since the start of the Oct. 7 war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip has my head spinning. His approach has been marked by a delicate balancing act that attempts to support a key ally on one hand while addressing humanitarian concerns faced by Gazan civilians on the other. However, this balancing act—some might call it “nuanced”—has led to contradictions that impact the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. Remember that it began after a horde of Hamas terrorists invaded Israeli communities along the G...
As I sat down to write this opinion, I realized that there are four things really bugging me. Number one. I have not read one single article that puts the blame on Hamas for the inhumane conditions in Gaza — food and water shortages, destroyed homes with refugees everywhere, etc. Hamas was elected by the people in Gaza to be their governing body. All the money sent to Gaza since 2007 has not been used to build a prosperous area that, I’m told, could have been like Dubai or Singapore. Hamas used the money to build tunnels and stockpile wea...
(JNS) — Back in December, the eminent historian Niall Ferguson wrote an essay in The Free Press that, it’s now apparent, presaged the tidal wave of demonstrations now inundating college campuses around the country. It was called “The Treason of the Intellectuals,” which also was the title of a 1927 publication by French philosopher Julien Benda. Ferguson noted that while that piece was written six years before Hitler came to power, German universities—then the world’s best—already were transitioning from scholarship to “the intellectual or...
Dear Editor: I am appalled that someone has not taken up an organized move to get George Soros out of this country. I am aware he has been thrown out of six countries already for doing exactly what he is doing now, destroying the economy, destroying civil rights, and attempting to destroy religion. He needs to go. Also, Blinken works for him and the Blinken family has worked for Soros for years and this is a conflict of interest. I can only assume people are afraid of what will happen to them. — Anonymous...
(JNS) — Faculty and students are proudly protesting Israel’s existence and praising Hamas for the slaughter of Jews. Not satisfied, they call for an intifada, and the erasure of Israel and its population from the Middle East. Some of the protesters cannot identify the river or sea they want to be “free” but chime in with other virtue signalers. Individually, they may not all be antisemites, but their views are antisemitic. Note to antisemites: Stop complaining that even as you block roads, occupy buildings, hold rallies, propagandize in clas...
