Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — As the Biden administration prepares to take on major international issues of the day, a debate has emerged within the American Jewish community over whether the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism should be adopted into law. A group of left-wing Jewish and Israeli groups issued a joint statement last week in opposition to adopting the definition, claiming that doing so would silence criticism of Israel. The collection of groups — known as the Progressive Israel Network — include Ameinu, America...
(JNS) - Following a district-wide recount, Republican Iowa State Sen. Mariannette Miller-Meeks won one of the closest races for a federal office in American history, defeating fellow state Sen. Rita Hart, a Democrat, by just six votes in the state's 2nd Congressional District in the Nov. 3 election for the U.S. House of Representatives to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack. Miller-Meeks, 65, an ophthalmologist who won on her fourth try running for Congress, served as a nurse and...
(JNS) Marilyn Strickland, the former Democratic mayor of Tacoma, Wash., easily won over her Democratic opponent, Washington state Rep. Beth Doglio, in the Nov. 3 U.S. House of Representatives election in the state’s 10th Congressional District to succeed Democratic Rep. Denny Heck, who successfully ran to become the state’s lieutenant governor. Strickland, 58, who is married with two stepdaughters, was born in the South Korean capital, Seoul, in 1962 and moved with her family to Tacoma five years later. Before serving as mayor from 2010 to 201...
(JNS) - Lisa McClain will join the record-number of Republican women elected this year to the U.S. House of Representatives following her landslide victory over Democrat Kimberly Bizon, 66.3 percent to 33.7 percent, respectively, in Michigan's 10th Congressional District to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Paul Mitchell. "I think America spoke," said McClain in an interview with JNS on Nov. 24, adding that the Republican women elected have "traditional American values." Before being elected to...
(JNS) - In addition to Kat Cammack being one of a record number of Republican women elected to Congress this past election, she will serve as the youngest Republican woman on Capitol Hill when the 117th Congress begins on Jan. 3. She easily defeated Democrat Adam Christensen, 57.1 percent to 42.9 percent, respectively, in the Nov. 3 U.S. House of Representatives race in Florida's 3rd Congressional District to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Ted Yoho, whom she served as his deputy chief of...
(JNS) — The U.S. Supreme Court heard two cases on Dec. 7 related to the issue of Holocaust restitution. The court will decide if the United States has the jurisdiction, in accordance with the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, to rule about crimes that happened abroad where there was no American involvement. Although foreign governments usually cannot be sued in U.S. courts, exceptions for acts of terrorism or acts of property confiscation violating international law have been made in the past. The plaintiffs in both cases, Federal R...
(JNS) — Despite retaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Democrats saw a number of significant defeats in the Nov. 3 elections that will shrink their majority going into the 117th Congress. One of the biggest upsets was by Republican Nicole Malliotakis, who defeated incumbent—although newly elected himself two years ago—Democratic Rep. Max Rose in New York’s 11th Congressional District. Rose, 33, who was first elected to Congress in 2018, conceded to the New York State Assembly member on Nov. 12. Out of 717,708 people...
(JNS) -Jewish groups reacted immediately following the U.S. Senate confirmation on Monday of Amy Coney Barrett as the 115th U.S. Supreme Court justice a week before the Nov. 3 election. Barrett, previously a judge on the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court and a professor at Notre Dame Law School, her law school alma mater, was confirmed 52-48. All but one Republican, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), voted in favor of her nomination, while all Democrats voted against it. She succeeds the late Ruth Bader Gin...
(JNS) — U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem will be allowed to list Israel as their place of birth on their U.S. passport, alluded the Trump administration on Wednesday. Politico first reported the development, citing a U.S. official, adding that the announcement could be made as soon as Thursday. Despite the United States recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017 and relocating its embassy to there from Tel Aviv months later, Americans born in Jerusalem have still been unable to list Israel as their place of birth on their U.S...
(JNS) Elan Carr has served as U.S. Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism since February 2019. Previously, he was a deputy district attorney in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. He was also a judge advocate in the American military's judicial system, prosecuting enemy combatants before Iraqi judges at the Central Criminal Court. He also served as the international president of Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi). Carr, 51, a Republican, unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2...
(JNS) - A Greek court has deemed the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn as a criminal organization disguised as a political party - a ruling applauded by Jewish groups. The five-and-a-half-year trial resulted in the convictions on Wednesday of 68 people, including 18 former lawmakers. The case, overseen by a three-judge panel, was sparked by the 2013 murder of 34-year-old anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas, who was chased down and stabbed to death by a Golden Dawn member. The killer, former truck driver...
(JNS) - California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would make ethnic-studies courses a high school graduation requirement. Newsom, a Democrat, cited the ongoing pushback over the curriculum for why he vetoed the measure, AB-331. "I value the role ethnic studies plays in helping students think critically about our history and understand the experience of marginalized communities in our state," he wrote in his veto message. "This academic discipline will help prepare our young adults to...
(JNS) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has withdrawn from being a speaker at an upcoming Americans for Peace Now event memorializing Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli prime minister who was assassinated by a Jewish extremist almost 25 years ago for his efforts to make peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. “We are sorry to hear that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez will no longer be speaking at our Oct. 20 Yitzhak Rabin memorial,” APN president Hadar Susskind told JTA on Saturday. “Her participation would have added to the event.” On Sept. 24,...
(JNS) - Jewish groups expressed mixed reactions to U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement on Sept. 26 that he has nominated U.S. Seventh Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett to succeed the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court. Ginsburg, a heralded liberal judicial, feminist and Jewish icon who was the second woman to serve on the nation's highest court, died on Sept. 18 at the age of 87 from "complications of metastatic pancreas cancer," according to a statement from the...
(JNS) - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Jewish woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, died on Sept. 18 at the age of 87 at her home in Washington, D.C. Ginsburg, a heralded liberal judicial, feminist and Jewish icon who was the second woman to serve on the nation's highest court, died from "complications of metastatic pancreas cancer," according to a statement from the Supreme Court shortly after her death. Her passing came on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year 5781, and just six...
(JNS) - The Democratic National Convention hosted an imam from an Islamic extremist institution on Sunday. Noman Hussain, imam of ISM Brookfield in Wisconsin, was one of the religious leaders who took part in the convention's "Interfaith Welcome Service." Hussain is a scholar at the Texas-based Qalam Institute, whose officials have advocated "the use of female sex slaves, the killing of adulterers, and incite hatred against Jews and other non-Muslims," according to the Middle East Forum. One of...
(JNS) — Facebook, according to an Aug. 10 report, “actively promotes further Holocaust-denial content to that user” and “has been unwilling to recognize Holocaust denial as a form of hate speech against Jews.” “Hosting the Holohoax: A Snapshot of Holocaust Denial Across Social Media,” was released by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank in the United Kingdom. The findings show that not only is Holocaust-denial content available on Facebook, but the social-media network actively lists it through the site’s algorithm. Through a “sno...
(JNS) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on Monday to require an ethnic-studies course requirement for matriculation from California State University, starting with the 2021-22 school year. Spearheaded by the AMCHA Initiative, 90 education, civil-rights and religious groups had called on Newsom to veto the bill, AB-1460. The organizations noted an important distinction between the broad field of ethnic studies — with its goal of understanding and celebrating the contributions of the state and country’s diversity — and the...
(JNS) - Jewish and Israel-related groups expressed mixed reactions to the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, picking Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate. Organizations from the Democratic Majority for Israel to J Street praised the selection of Harris, who would be the first African-American and South Asian to be picked as a running mate for a major-party candidate. She would also be the third woman tapped for the vice-presidenti...
(JNS) - Jewish and pro-Israel groups instantly applauded Israel and the United Arab Emirates for a deal on Thursday to normalize relations between the two countries - the first of its kind between Israel and a Middle Eastern country in more than 25 years, following Jordan and Egypt. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee called the development "a historic breakthrough for peace and reconciliation in the Middle East." The lobbying group also called on "other Arab states and the...
(JNS) — In a move that bodes well for Israel, the Democratic National Committee’s platform committee voted on Monday to reject additional language that would make the party’s stance on the Jewish state more critical. The committee voted 117-34 to reject adding the word “occupation” and a condition of U.S. assistance to Israel on the Jewish state not going ahead with its plans to apply sovereignty to parts of the West Bank, also known as Judea and Samaria. The platform includes language that expresses support for the U.S.-Israel relations...
(JNS) — A group of 10 Jewish organizations has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a discrimination case from the 1970s that involved a Jewish employee who couldn’t work on Saturdays, which is the the Jewish Shabbat. The amicus curiae was filed by the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs. It was joined by Orthodox Jews groups, including Agudath Israel of America, Agudas Harabbonim, the Coalition for Jewish Values, the National Council of Young Israel, the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, the Rabbinical All...
(JNS) - Since taking office in 2019, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) has become one of the most outspoken critics of Israel in the U.S. Congress. She has become part of a growing cadre of young progressives within the Democratic Party whom critics fear will erode the long-heralded bipartisan support for Israel. Last month, this concern further grew when pro-Israel Democratic stalwart Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who headed the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, lost in a primary to Jamaal...
(JNS) - Israel and the Jewish people are always looking for friends, and they seemed to have found one in Holly Huffnagle. A Christian now employed to help tackle anti-Semitism in the United States, she has more than one thing in common with the Jewish and pro-Israel community of late. On July 12, Huffnagle was targeted by the anti-Israel group IfNotNow, which retweeted a post by the American Jewish Committee, where in April she was named its U.S. Director for Combating Antisemitism, claiming...
(JNS) - Anti-Defamation League national director and CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has come under fire from Jewish groups for appearing on the MSNBC show "Politics Nation With Al Sharpton" on Sunday to promote the ADL's call for corporations to boycott Facebook in July over its unwillingness to ban hate speech on the social-media giant's platform. While the message seems on target with ADL's work, the idea of partnering with someone like Sharpton, who has a history of anti-Semitism and other bigotry,...
