Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 11 of 11
We can argue if it really happened, but there’s no doubt that the Exodus is a great story, with or without Hollywood stars or best selling authors. Yet it has also been associated with problems. The association of Passover and Easter brought forth an increase in Christian animosity and violence. Too often in European history it was a season of pogroms rather than celebration. There’s no better evidence for the stories of Jesus than for the story of the Exodus. Both rely on what was written by religious partisans, with the story of Jesus’ trial...
Let’s leave the Israeli election to continue brewing. The voting is next week. Nastiness rampant. Currently in the air are comments about U.S. Jews. Where are they? What’s their interest in Israel? That we’ve developed into two separate communities should not be a surprise. It’s been more than two generations since the Holocaust and the establishment of the Israeli state. Israel is no longer in danger of collapse. It has developed good relations with a number of former enemies, and gets along with most Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. Holocau...
The election may not decide anything. The clusters of parties seem nearly tied in recent polls, with neither right nor center-left clearly able to amass the seats need to form a government. What comes next will be long and messy, and ultimately create a government. Or another election. At the present, Bibi seems to be in charge of the right. But loosely. It shouldn’t take much to dislodge him, send him to a retirement, which itself will be a messy process that seems likely to end up behind bars. Currently we’re hearing more support for Lik...
There are polls every day or two. You can see the latest at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2019_Israeli_legislative_election They pretty much are showing a tie, or close to it between the center-left and the right. Bibi is a sharp campaigner, managing to label his opponents the leftists, with the help of media and the Arabs. According to him, they are manufacturing stories that would incriminate him. There’s nothing wrong about accepting a few cigars or bottles of champagne from close friends. He’s more art...
Chaos in both of my countries: Israel’s government collapses, and calls an election for April 9th; U.S. government is wrapped up in a dispute about the wall, pulls out from Syria, and several other claims about the president. Israel’s election came under dispute about a bill for drafting Haredim, as well as looming charges against the prime minister. Contenders are clamoring, with a major question focused on Benny Gantz. He’s a tall, handsome, and quiet former head of the IDF who is polling in the range of 11-15 Knesset Members, but hasn...
The idea of Palestine may be somewhere in the dust, but Israel still has problems. There are several cases of recent attacks that were prominent, and the IDF is digging out tunnels coming from Lebanon into northern Israel. Security forces count in the hundreds the instances of attack that have frustrated this year. One incident was about a month ago, when an employee of a West Bank industry killed two of his colleagues and then ran. Most recently there was a drive-by shooting at an area in the West Bank where people were waiting for rides....
A Saudi journalist went into his government’s consulate in Turkey, and may have exited some time later in a number of parcels. The disappearance has riled the media with the persistence of the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation. The folks are holding Saudi Arabia to a much higher standard of justice than should be expected. And it’s Turkey that is among those leading the fray. It is competing with Saudi Arabia and Egypt for leadership of Sunni Muslims. Turkey’s leader may be dreaming of the extent achieved by the Ottoman Empire. And he has his own re...
More than a week ago, the police recommended indictments on a half-dozen of prominent Israelis. The issue concerned the purchase of submarines and other warships from Thyssen Krupp a German firm in the port of Kiel. Involved in the police recommendation were a cousin and attorney of the prime minister, a former head of Israel’s Navy, and several others who held positions close to the top. Details were supplied by a confidant of them all, who had provided information, including recordings, that linked them to maneuvers that moved Israel’s pur...
It appears that the split between Gaza and the West Bank is serious. There’s a line of culture between us and them that keeps us from knowing what’s occurring. We do know that the Fatah of Mahmoud Abbas is out of touch with the Hamas that controls Gaza. We don’t know more, but there’s speculation that it is or isn’t a matter of Abbas’ stubbornness. He’s in his mid-80s, and ill, and there are several competitors for his job. One or more may have connections with Gaza. Hamas appears to be dominant in Gaza. Its competitors include several groups e...
Should we worry about the future? Of course. But how far into the future? We should certainly complete the obligations we have committed to for today. And maybe next week. Beyond that, however, something unforeseen may get in the way. In matters of politics and public policy, it’s much more complex. How much to worry about the incompetence of the American president? Or the tilt to the right of the Israeli prime minister? Each of those characters may be the most weighty influence on the near future of the U.S. and Israel, but there is lots e...
Malcolm Gladwell’s “Saigon 1965,” a chapter in his podcast Revisionist History, brought me back to the University of Wisconsin 1968-75. I participated in campus discussions on Vietnam, and smelled the tear gas used against mass protests. Gladwell’s message is that a mass of information about the Vietcong lent itself to widely different conclusions by intelligence personnel influenced by their own experiences, with their political superiors screening assessments through their own self-interests. Some saw the U.S. as winning, while others...
