Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 840 - 864 of 3730
(The Ettinger Report via JNS) — During the October 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty ceremony, top Jordanian military officers told their Israeli counterparts that a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River would doom the pro-U.S. Hashemite regime. They said it would transform Jordan into an uncontrollable terrorist haven, haunting the highly vulnerable pro-U.S. regimes of the oil-producing Gulf states, as well as Egypt. In June 1967, Israel gained control over the topographically dominant mountain ridges of the Golan Heights, Judea and S...
Recently the Florida Press Association held its annual newspaper contest, and I was pleased to learn that I won second place in the Serious Column category. The article, titled “Substance use disorder is a community problem,” (June 4, 2021), was a result of the initiative taken by many members of the community to make a difference in the fight against drug abuse. The program I talked about — B’ri’ut (Hebrew for acceptance and wellness), sponsored by the Jewish Federation and backed by several synagogues and agencies — kicked off with a meet...
(JNS) — Forget Big Brother, Big MUM is Google’s new tool for suppressing conservatives. MUM, or Multitask Unified Model, was hyped last year as the company’s new machine learning algorithm. MUM had been initially described as an innovative way to allow Google’s dying search service to answer natural language questions by drawing on multiple sources. While MUM’s applications initially appeared to be apolitical, that quickly changed. Google first unleashed MUM to fight what it considered COVID “misinformation” by making sure that everyone saw “hi...
(JNS) — You didn’t read about it in The New York Times or see the footage on CNN, but last week, yet another Jew walking near a synagogue was brutally beaten by assailants yelling “Kill the Jews!” The mob assault took place on Aug. 26, near the synagogue at Kever Shmuel, the Tomb of the Prophet Samuel, which is located close to the northern edge of Jerusalem. A cell-phone video of the attack has been shown by the Israeli media but has been ignored by the international media. It shows the screaming attackers—many waving PLO flags, piling on...
(JNS) — Can a documentary on a low-rated network broadcast at a time when few were watching make much of a difference? Maybe not. That’s especially true when you consider that the program aired directly opposite one of the most ballyhooed shows of the year—the premiere of the new “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon”—on an evening of the week when all cable-news programs get terrible ratings. CNN correspondent Dana Bash deserves credit for pushing her network to allow her to do an edition of its “Special Report” series “Rising Hate...
(Palestinian Media Watch via JNS) — Every year the United States gives the Palestinian Authority tens of millions of dollars to support its security forces. This aid is not affected by any of the provisions of U.S. law that limit such aid, either as a result of the P.A.’s terror-rewarding “pay-for-slay” policy or its promotion of an investigation against Israel at the International Criminal Court. The E.U. not only supports the P.A. security forces but has also plowed tens of millions of euros into the P.A. court system. But do the U.S. and the...
(JNS) — The Biden administration is claiming that Israel has not provided evidence that the seven NGOs whose offices it closed down last week were tied to a terror group. Yet there is a mountain of publicly-available evidence proving the existence of such ties—and some of it comes from the U.S. government itself. The administration was clear in its support of the NGOs. U.S. State Department Spokesman Ned Price said the administration “voiced our concern” about Israel’s actions. Disputing Israel’s assertion that the groups were connected t...
(JNS) — Some people are surprised that the terror regime in Iran has been more conciliatory of late in the negotiations to return to the 2015 nuclear deal. Because the process has taken so long, they assumed that the mullahs were serious, rather than bluffing, with their prolonged intransigence. It’s only when the West recently held their ground that the mullahs softened their demands and made a deal closer at hand. Why? Because the mullahs need the moolah. The nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, pro...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — The international community under the leadership of the U.S. appears to be closing in on signing a new nuclear deal with Iran. On both sides of the negotiating table, there are those who are taking care to create a thick smokescreen to “confuse the enemy.” Sadly, the enemy, in their eyes, isn’t Tehran, but those who oppose a deal with it—primarily Israel. But the fog of battle eventually clears. Over the past few days, it’s become clear that, despite reports that both sides of the talks were digging in their heels to th...
(JNS) —Jewish life in America is under assault. Ideological and political campaigns that defame and demonize Jews are now fashionable in the media, academia and too many Christian and Muslim religious institutions. This demonization naturally incites physical violence, as it has throughout history. The simplistic and short-term response is, of course, increased physical security — armed guards at Jewish venues and events. Wise leadership would recognize that we cannot provide physical security for every Jew and that unless we deal with the root...
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...
