Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 826 - 850 of 3706
With the U.S. recently authorizing $1 billion in additional security assistance for Ukraine and persistently opposing the Russian invasion, it is difficult to imagine the prospect of American leaders aligning with the Kremlin on any particular issue. But that is precisely what Sen. Marco Rubio (R) did last week vis-à-vis the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan — and that development should make Florida’s Jewish community aware that double standards extend beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While Rubio is known as a strong supp...
Ya know, just when we think we have successfully dealt with antisemitism and the threat of the “Proud Boys” etc. here comes a new/old threat to the Jewish People: Christian Nationalism. This theory, pushed by the far right organizations active in our political landscape today, states that America was founded as a Christian Nation and all other religions have no place in American life and/or American philosophy. It states in the Declaration of Independence that the United States is “One Nation Under God.” So, what does that mean? As Jews we...
(JNS) — The families of the Israeli athletes massacred at the 1972 Munich Olympics have announced a boycott of an upcoming 50th-anniversary commemoration in Germany. They’re protesting the inadequate level of compensation provided by the German government, and I fully support their position. But let’s not forget that one of the masterminds of the massacre heads a regime that is currently receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in direct and indirect aid each year from the United States, Germany and numerous other countries. I am refer...
(JNS) — Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion once famously said, “When Israel has prostitutes and thieves, we’ll be a state just like any other.” Ben-Gurion’s vision of Zionism was to “normalize” the Jews. His “normal” meant having a country with a Jewish flavor that is still a state like any other, with all the vices inherent therein. This was a great aspiration at the time given the urgency of restoring the Jewish people to sovereignty in the Land of Israel. However, it would have been nice if Ben-Gurion had referred to other s...
(JNS) — We are swiftly approaching the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre when 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by Palestinian terrorists. Even after the passage of decades, the wounds have not healed, and the atrocity remains as emotive and fraught as it ever was. In particular, the German government, which botched its ambush attempt on the terrorists, allowing them to murder the athletes they had taken hostage, recently offered further compensation to the families of the victims. It was refused, with one survivor c...
(The Jewish Voice via JNS) — When addressing the defining moment of the 20th century in terms of man’s inhumanity to man, we often reflect on the sheer barbarism of the Holocaust. But throughout the blood-stained annals of Jewish history, many other anti-Semitic massacres have been committed. Tragically, what is often neglected and summarily dismissed is the forced expulsion, evacuation and flight of 921,000 Jews of Sephardi and Mizrachi background from Arab countries and the Muslim world, primarily from 1948 to the early 1970s. For over 2,5...
(JNS) — In the current poisonous political atmosphere, many accusations are made by the right and left, each asserting the other is most responsible for all evil in the world. This is equally true regarding campuses. As with so much political rhetoric, little is based on research rather than individuals’ view through partisan goggles. But what does the data show? No one study is likely to be accepted or conclusive, but I ran across an interesting one by Eitan Hersh, an associate professor at Tufts University, and Laura Royden, a Ph.D. can...
(JNS) — Anyone wishing to understand the historic, religious and political significance of Jewish settlements in biblical Judea and Samaria (commonly misidentified as the “West Bank” under Jordanian control until the Six-Day War in 1967) should read Daniel Kane’s Mosaic article on Aug. 1 called “The Changing Faces of Israel’s Settlement Movement.” Although settlers are often depicted in the media (see The New York Times) as fanatics who have stolen Palestinian land, that reveals bias, not reality. The core of Kane’s analysis is the transformat...
(JNS) — On Aug. 5, as squadrons of Gaza militants from the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad approached an Israeli border post, Israel initiated “Operation Breaking Dawn,” striking PIJ targets. The operation included a precision strike that took out top PIJ commander Tayseer al-Jabari. What is this shadowy organization, what are its goals and capabilities and what is the nature of the threat it poses to the State of Israel? Fortunately, this information is publicly available; sadly, it paints a picture of a militant faction capable of imme...
I can’t count the number of pastors who had confided in me about issues relating to modesty in their churches. Many will tell me how distraught they are when they see their members out at the mall or in some other setting, dressed in ways that would never correspond to the religious values they espouse. Some of them even tell me that this is an uphill battle in their own churches. Most confide in me as a friend, and as an Orthodox Jew aware that Jewish tradition places a high value on modesty. I am also “safe” to have these conversations with...
After too much time reading the news, I recently felt the need for a pick-me-up. But little did I dream that it would come in the form of an extensively researched 10,000-word article in the very left-wing outlet The Intercept. After Democrats won the trifecta — the presidency, House, and Senate — reports Ryan Grim, the advocacy organizations that form the party’s ideological infrastructure ceased to function. That’s the good news. The reason for that paralysis is enough to make one fall on the floor laughing: No one can work with the young ...
Making friends is an important part of human development, human experience and ultimately human happiness. It begins in very early childhood. Some children are born with personalities that are naturally gregarious, and other children suffer shyness from a very early age. In most cases children outgrow their shyness, but sometimes it lingers into adolescence and even into a lifelong impediment to making friends. New parents and grandparents, who joyfully cannot keep their eyes off the new arrival, search for hints of personality. They do so...
(JNS) — The free world is at risk from the unsanctioned development of nuclear weapons by a rogue state. Nuclear missiles in the hands of an unstable regime with deep ties to terrorist groups present a supreme danger to the civilian public back home, so there is no choice but to respond. One of the world’s most legendary air forces must turn to its experienced flyers to train its rising generation of top pilots and personnel for a high-risk mission, requiring all of their skill and from which they might not return: a bombing run on the rog...
(JNS) — It’s summertime! For most children, that means campfires, nature hikes and outdoor games like “Capture the Flag.” For kids in the regions governed by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, it means weapons training, skits in which the children pretend to kidnap and murder Jews, and lectures on the importance of destroying Israel. Hillary Clinton once called it “Palestinian child abuse.” One glance at the campers’ daily schedule explains why. The Central Hebron branch of Fatah, the major faction of the P.A., has posted on its website d...
(JNS) — As Iran’s nuclear program continues apace, the debate in Israel and abroad has focused almost exclusively on the likelihood of an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Little if anything has been said, at least in public, regarding the possibility that Iran might preempt a potential Israeli offensive. The absence of this scenario in the public discourse is apparently related to a tacit assumption that Iran has no incentive to launch such an attack as long as its nuclear progress remains on track and uninterrupted. Moreo...
(JNS) — Diaspora Jews worry about how to deal with the current tsunami of antisemitism that is washing through the world. They also worry about how to deal with the anti-Zionism and demonization of Israel that are now the default position for “progressives” in the West. Most painful of all, they observe with horror that Jews themselves are increasingly involved in the onslaught against Israel. However, there’s a problem that’s even more fundamental to the well-being of the Jewish people. It’s that Diaspora Jews are increasingly turning awa...
When he took the oath of office, Governor Ron DeSantis promised to be the most pro-Israel governor in the nation and he has delivered. Our governor has proven time and time again his commitment to combatting antisemitism and standing with Florida’s Jewish communities. Governor DeSantis allocated millions of dollars to guard and protect Jewish schools, synagogues, and other institutions all across Florida. He has also worked to ensure the next generation of Floridians never forget the evils of the Holocaust. Fighting antisemitism in Florida ...
(JNS) — From the moment it began operations, the left-wing lobby J Street’s assertion that it’s mantra of “pro-Israel and pro-peace” better represented the true sentiments of American Jews than the position of mainstream groups was disingenuous. While its leader, Jeremy Ben-Ami, claimed that the new organization’s efforts provided a way for Americans to support peace in the Middle East, its goals were really always more about the politics of the United States than that of the Jewish state. That has been never more apparent than lately as J...
(JNS) — In an interview last week at the White House with Israeli Channel 12’s Yonit Levi, U.S. President Joe Biden reiterated his administration’s desire to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran from which his predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew in 2018. “The only thing worse than the Iran that exists now is an Iran with nuclear weapons,” he said during the one-on-one chat that was taped on the eve of his trip to the Middle East and broadcast in Israel after his arrival in the country. “And if w...
(JNS) — The Community Security Trust, an organization in the United Kingdom that prevents and records anti-Semitism, found a worrying spike in anti-Semitic activity last May and June, when some pro-Palestinian campaigners verbally and physically assaulted Jews. This was during and after Israel’s 11-day conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip when the terror group launched more than 4,000 rockets into civilian areas in Israel. Violence was also incited by the Palestinian Authority, whose leaders incited widespread violence in Jerusalem and cities...
(Jewish Journal via JNS) — While much of the conversation around Israel revolves around its conflict with the Palestinians, the BDS movement against the Jewish state, Iran’s nuclear threat and political elections that never end, there’s a whole other story that doesn’t get much attention: Israel is becoming a country for humanity. That thought was on my mind this week after spending time in Jerusalem with my friend Jonathan Medved, who runs an innovation investment platform called Our Crowd. Over a late afternoon coffee at the King David H...
On March 26, 2022, with much fanfare and staging in the Polish capital of Warsaw and with the whole world watching, the President of the United States and the leader of the Free World, made a speech which can only be described as, employing the Shakespearean line, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” In October of 2021, when the Russians were increasing their verbal and actual threats directed to Ukraine, and were increasing their military buildup along several strategic points along the Ukrainian border, including Ukraine’s share...
(JTA) — It’s been over 20 years since my predecessor as editor of the New York Jewish Week, Gary Rosenblatt, first exposed the predations of Rabbi Baruch Lanner. His powerful investigation led Lanner’s bosses at the Orthodox Union to issue a report describing the sexual, physical and emotional abuse carried out by Lanner against dozens of teenagers in his charge. It’s been exactly 20 years since Lanner was convicted of sexually assaulting students at a Jewish high school in New Jersey. It’s been 14 years since Lanner, then 58, was released afte...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — President Biden, an American president’s visit to our country is always a day of celebration. It is an authentic expression of the sense of closeness between our two peoples and the brave partnership between our two countries. This friendship does not depend on our leaders’ identities or party affiliations, and takes precedence over any dispute. The special relationship between our countries is multifaceted and serves common interests, but it is also based on common values—our commitment to democracy, liberty, justice...
(JNS) — On the eve of President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia, Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the left-wing lobby J Street — which bills itself as “pro-Israel” and “pro-peace”— advised the president to “address the coming crisis between Israel and Palestine.” Writing in The Washington Post, Ben-Ami expressed concern for the Palestinians alone. They are, he claimed, burdened by occupation, violence, injustice, settler violence, demolitions, evictions, annexation and so on. Out of the entire article, six words pointed a finger at...
