Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — American businessman Ronald S. Lauder stood at The Jerusalem Post conference in New York earlier this month and said what many have been saying for years. Since Oct. 7, Jewish organizations in the United States have spent more than $600 million fighting antisemitism through advertising, media campaigns and public messaging. “Has it helped?” he asked the room. “Has all that money stopped or even slowed down the hatred against us? The answer is no.” He’s right. And he’s not the first person to say it. In the mid-1990s, marketing con...
(JNS) — Extreme socialism is now on the march in America, with the demonization of Israel as the principal weapon in its arsenal. Claire Valdez, Brad Lander and Darializa Avila Chevalier, three extremists backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, emerged victorious this week from their Democratic primaries in New York City’s 7th, 10th and 17th congressional districts. Valdez and Chevalier are affiliated with the ultra-left, anti-American Democratic Socialists of America. On social media, Valdez has boasted of having “wiped my hand on the Ameri...
(JNS) — With the approach of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States on July 4, it’s important to reaffirm some basic truths. Mike Huckabee, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, summarized it well in his pithy remark: “Without Israel, without the Jewish foundation, there would not be an America.” This is true in terms of Jewish thought, blood and treasure. Jewish merchants and shippers supplied the Continental Army with sorely needed goods a...
(JNS) — I grew up inside a political machine. My father and friends ran the Brooklyn, N.Y., reformers love to denounce. In 2010, when a group calling itself the New Kings Democrats came to tear that machine down, I was one of the people defending it. I know what a machine looks like from the inside. I know how it rewards loyalty, protects its own and decides races before the voters ever do. The insurgents had a case, and parts of it were true. Machines grow comfortable. They get closed and self-dealing and certain of their own permanence. T...
Dear Editor: The following can be sung to the tune of “Where have all the flowers gone.” Where have all the Jews gone, from a long time ago? No more Jerry Bornsteins, no more Hy Lakes, no more Bill Goodmans. From long time ago … No more Norman Rossmans, no more Dick Weiners or Bob Weinriches From long time ago… No more Dorothy Morrells, no more Marlene Rossmans or Gloria Goodmans From long time ago … No more Lester Mandels or Bob Yarmuths from long time ago … With well over 30,000 Jewish people living in Central Florida — the Greater Orlan...
A twelfth-century Crusader fortress in southern Lebanon teaches a lesson that Washington keeps refusing to learn: ceasefires are not a strategy, and walking away from the battlefield only guarantees the next generation will have to return to it. Beaufort is a twelfth-century Crusader fortress perched on a commanding height in southern Lebanon. For nearly a thousand years it has been used to control vast stretches of territory and to launch military operations with relative impunity. Its position is not just strategically significant. It is a...
We’ve been hearing for weeks, even months from the White House that Islamic Republic of Iran was about to sign a deal. True or not, for some reason President Trump‘s most recent statements have been taken more seriously. The stock market is up, oil prices are down and some sort of a deal may indeed be announced imminently. As I read the terms of the proposed deal, whether true or not, my heart breaks because the outcome of the deal will be deadly. There are truly no good terms of the deal being reported, but as much as the terms are bad, the...
(JNS) — In the never-ending churning of news cycles, commentators and the public alike are always ready to overreact to each aspect of every story as they roll out. Under these circumstances, historical perspective is rarely part of anyone’s understanding of events. This was amply illustrated by the discussion about the United States signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran. Hysteria about the implications of the deal for Israel, which was cut out of the negotiations over the agreement, is probably unwise. It’s not clear how much of th...
Seventy-five years ago this week, in response to the horrors of the Holocaust, the United Nations convened the1951 Refugee Convention. The United States, along with 25 other nations, signed the international refugee protection agreement, recognizing refugees’ right to seek safety and accepting its obligations to accept refugees. We also mark the anniversary (June 1939) of the tragedy of the MS St Louis ship carrying refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. The United States, Cuba and Canada refused entry to this “ship of the damned”; it was forced to ret...
(JNS) — As the father of a terror victim, as a Zionist and as an Israeli citizen, I quake with the report of every missile strike or terror attack against the Jewish state. That is not a figure of speech. It is not political theater. It is the involuntary reaction of someone who knows what a phone call can mean, what a headline can hide, and how quickly an ordinary day can become the day that divides a family’s life into before and after. The targets are always civilians. They are people going about their lives, trying to make a shekel, wai...
(JNS) — This week, Jewish communities around the world mark the anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Escaping Europe and arriving in America during World War II, the Rebbe knew well where silence leads. His father died in exile for daring to defend religious liberty under communism. The Rebbe taught the world to lead with light—to fight hatred by speaking out against injustice wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head. Today, that ancient poison of global antisemitism strikes wit...
(JNS) — In my media interviews, I am often asked: “Has Israel become the 51st state of the U.S.?” With half a smile, I answer: “If only. American states have far more freedom and room to maneuver than Israel does.” This situation is hardly new. Ever since U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower demanded that Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion halt the Israel Defense Forces’ campaign against Egypt in Sinai in 1956, and later withdraw from Gaza, the United States has consistently forced Israel to stop fighting and agree to a ceasefire....
(JNS) — The IDF’s top brass is convinced that Hezbollah is a semi-dismantled organization that has suffered the hardest blow in its history. It had 30,000 fighters on Oct. 6, 2023; since then, 8,000 have been killed and about the same number wounded. “Even a jihadist enemy is dying for a ceasefire.” The chief of staff, for example, said in closed discussions that he is in favor, under the following conditions: One, Hezbollah’s withdrawal beyond the Litani River. Two, the destruction of all its infrastructure, this time not by the impotent...
Sometimes it is exhausting reading all the lies that people say about Israel. It is true that if you tell a lie long enough people will believe it. This is why we must address all the lies that people — students, professors, congressmen, neighbors — hear and grasp hold of. Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun wrote in his editorial this week, “The Rebbe taught the world to lead with light—to fight hatred by speaking out against injustice wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head.” I would add to that to also lead with truth — not just speak out against inju...
It’s not easy writing and editing dictionaries. As the world changes so does the vernacular. Besides introducing new words that come along, there is a core responsibility of the lexicographer to revise existing words that have taken on new or expanded meanings. The profession certainly must have its challenges. Take the word “ceasefire.” We can all agree that it means a temporary pause in hostilities between warring factions. Yet, for quite some time, the president — a high-profile influencer because of his communication skills and bully p...
(JNS) — Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland recently wrote an op-ed in The New York Times urging Democrats to abandon what he called their “reflexive and unconditional support” for Israel. The irony is hard to miss. At the very moment the senator was lamenting America’s supposed unwillingness to pressure Israel, U.S. President Donald Trump was publicly treating Israel less like an ally than a dependent client state—telling Jerusalem to jump while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was left asking, “How high?” Van Hollen’s argument rests on...
(JNS) — There was a time, long ago, back in the drug-addled days of Woodstock, when tie-dyed shirts were formal wear, and hair was both a Broadway musical and a countercultural trademark. During those days, the progressive left—known colloquially at the time as “hippies”—knew their proper place, rarely overstepping. Sure, they made their politics known. And, yes, many wished to change the world by urging to “give peace a chance.” But their groove remained mainly local and cultural. International affairs were largely left to the squares in suits...
(JNS) — From the start of the war with Iran, it was clear that the stakes couldn’t have been higher. If the United States and Israel were to succeed in neutralizing the Iranian regime, the outcome wouldn’t just have been the removal of a monstrous threat to Israel, the Iranian people and the world. It also would have reshaped global politics by tearing apart the web of evil spun by Russia, China and North Korea, at the center of which squatted the regime on which they all depended—the Islamic Republic of Iran. If, however, the United States...
(JNS) — Jewish Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht jolted friends when he recently announced that he was leaving the Democratic Party, citing the group’s “acquiescence to Jew-hatred.” Wecht not only voted Democrat but was a decades-long activist who won two races for the Supreme Court as a Democrat. He noted that the party too often minimized, ignored or excused anti-Jewish rhetoric and incidents. What’s perhaps more surprising is that more American Jews haven’t reacted similarly to the party’s increasing disregard—and...
As the United States gears up to celebrate its 250th anniversary, I have watched with growing alarm as the freedoms we cherish have been systematically exploited by those who despise these very freedoms and use them to destroy America and American values. The chief offender of this systematic invasion is the Moslem Brotherhood. The “Brotherhood” motto declares “Allah is our objective; the Koran is our constitution; the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; and dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.” It has been executing a decades...
Some readers may remember that U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North testified at televised congressional hearings on the Iran-Contra scandal in 1987. At one point, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) suggested that North speak for himself, admonishing his lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, for constantly objecting to questions posed to the colonel. “Well, sir,” Sullivan responded, “I’m not a potted plant. I’m here as the lawyer. That’s my job.” The line has endured because it captures something fundamental: People in positions of power are not decorative ...
I have been watching reports of negotiations between President Trump’s administration and the Islamic Republic of Iran with an anguish that is difficult to put into words. I want to believe that my president understands what he is dealing with. I want to believe that this time will be different. I want to believe that he understands what I know as the truth about the Islamic Republic: that you can never negotiate with them, and they will always lie and do anything to stay in power, and in control of more than 90 million Iranians. I have n...
(JNS) — Jewish American Heritage Month was celebrated by New York City’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani at a reception he hosted, with food supervised by Tarnopol Kashrus services, at Gracie Mansion on May 18. There were speeches galore. The mayor took advantage of the event to announce that he will be adding $26 million in funding to prevent hate crimes to his proposed 2027 fiscal year budget. Of course, many believe that if Mamdani had come out more strongly against anti-Jewish groups these past few months, such as those threatening and demonstrating o...
(JNS) — About 20 pro-Israel activists gathered last month for a dinner meeting in suburban Washington, D.C. A veteran Democratic congressman was our guest speaker. Though his district contains comparatively few Jews and not Jewish himself, he has been for decades a staunch supporter of close U.S.-Israel ties, backed the Soviet Jewry movement and promoted other issues dear to most Jewish voters. The representative expressed qualified optimism about November’s midterm elections. Though much can change, he said he expects the Democrats “to net a...
(JNS) — In his typically acerbic style of dry humor, comedian-pundit Bill Maher marked the 78th anniversary of Israel’s Declaration of Independence with a hard-hitting monologue that promptly went viral. During the closing segment of the May 15 episode of his eponymous HBO show “Real Time,” Maher stated that “everyone must either wish [the Jewish state] a happy birthday or admit they’re antisemitic.” He didn’t mention that Zohran Mamdani—who openly mourned the nakba, the “catastrophe” of Israel’s establishment in 1948—perfectly fits the...
