Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) - A social media storm has erupted after the announcement that Israeli actress Gal Gadot will portray the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra in a blockbuster film. Critics complained that Gadot is neither Egyptian nor Arab, while others are pointing out that Cleopatra wasn't Arab. Pakistani journalist Sameera Khan blasted the casting, which was reported Sunday, in a tweet that has stirred widespread discussion on the platform. "Which Hollywood dumbass thought it would be a good idea to cast an...
(JTA) — The University of Illinois student government included a call for divestment from companies that do business with Israel as part of a resolution in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The university’s Office of Student Affairs condemned the nonbinding resolution, which passed last week in a 22-11 vote with seven abstentions. “It is unfortunate that a resolution before the group tonight was designed to force students who oppose efforts to divest from Israel to also vote against support for the Black Lives Matter movement,” the Of...
(JTA) — Six weeks after thousands of Florida State University students petitioned for their student body president to be removed over social media posts they described as anti-Semitic, the school’s president has announced several changes aimed at making Florida State more hospitable for Jewish students. In an open letter to the campus community, John Thrasher said he wanted “to reaffirm that Antisemitism and religious discrimination have no home at Florida State University” and outlined what he said were “significant developments on campus to...
(JTA) — Angela Buxton won the women’s doubles championship at Wimbledon in 1956, but she was denied admission to the All England Club, which hosts the prestigious tennis tournament, saying it was because of anti-Semitism. The club traditionally gives a lifetime membership to Wimbledon winners. “It’s an unfortunate example of how the British really treat Jews in this country,” Buxton told the Sunday Times last year. “This sort of thing exacerbates the feeling towards Jews. It’s perfectly ridiculous, it’s laughable. It speaks volumes.” Buxto...
(JTA) — Holocaust denial content is “readily accessible” on social media and Facebook algorithms “actively” promote it, according to a report published Monday. The London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue found that typing “holocaust” in the Facebook search function brought up suggestions for denial pages, which point users to publishers that sell revisionist and denial literature. “Using a ‘snowball’ discovery method, we found that when a user follows public pages containing Holocaust denial content, Facebook actively promotes further Hol...
By Marcy Oster (JTA) — The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia said it will not work with the local chapter of the NAACP over “an alarming amount of bigoted and anti-Jewish sentiments” on his social media channels and the mosque he leads. Rodney Muhammad “still has yet to fully apologize for his most recent actions,” the federation said in a statement updated earlier this week. The statement also said that while the federation would continue to work with the national office of the NAACP and other local chapters, “our obligation to oppose...
(JTA) — After their vocal calls for Twitter to take down rapper Wiley’s spree of anti-Semitic tweets went unanswered, Jews in the United Kingdom are taking another approach: silence. British Jewish activists and their allies — including high-profile celebrities, both Jewish and non-Jewish — are staging a 48-hour boycott of Twitter to protest the platform’s handling of anti-Semitic posts. Among the people and organizations going silent until Wednesday are British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and his predecessor Jonathan Sacks, members of Parlia...
(JTA) - Zach Banner of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers now knows what challah tastes like - and he can say the word properly. With "a little phleghm," the offensive lineman said in a tweeted video of himself this week. In a recent interview, Banner said that after he posted tweets and videos embracing the Jewish community amid the anti-Semitism furor involving fellow NFLer DeSean Jackson, he has received an outpouring of love - including the delivery of loaves of challah. That affection has also...
(JTA) — In the wake of a string of high-profile controversies involving the likes of rapper Ice Cube and NFL player DeSean Jackson, two more prominent Black commentators have called out anti-Semitism in the Black community this week: NBA Hall of Famer-turned columnist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and sports journalist Jemele Hill. In his latest column for The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday, Abdul-Jabbar argues that there has been a “shocking lack of massive indignation” over recent statements on social media by various sports and entertainment figures th...
(JTA) — New England Patriots receiver Julian Edelman invited fellow NFL star DeSean Jackson to have “uncomfortable conversations” about anti-Semitism and hatred against Blacks. Edelman was responding to recent posts by Jackson attributed to Adolf Hitler, which Jackson later removed and apologized for, and the reaction to them, including calls for him to be cut by the Philadelphia Eagles. In an Instagram video, Edelman offered to accompany Jackson to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and then to join Jackson on a tour of the National Museu...
(JTA) — Zach Banner of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers wants the Black community to know: Jews “deal with the same amount of hate, similar hardships and hard times.” In a tweet accompanied by a video, Banner said he does not want to “harp” on the controversy surrounding the recent social media posts of fellow NFLer DeSean Jackson in which the Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver featured anti-Semitic statements attributed to Adolf Hitler. But, he said, the community can only “progress by educating ourselves. We can’t move forward while allowing...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — With the date set by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to begin annexing West Bank territory days away, the Palestinians appear ready to restart peace negotiations with Israel. A four-page letter from the Palestinian Authority sent to the so-called Quartet — the diplomatic grouping of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia — said it was “ready to resume direct bilateral negotiations where they stopped,” according to AFP. The French news agency reported that it saw the text on Monday bu...
(JTA) - The University of Cincinnati will remove Marge Schott's name from its baseball stadium because of the late Cincinnati Reds owner's racism and anti-Semitism. The university's Board of Trustees voted Monday to remove Schott's name from the stadium and from a space in the archives library, effective immediately, acting on a recommendation by the university's president, Neville Pinto. "Marge Schott's record of racism and bigotry stands at stark odds with our University's core commitment to...
(JTA) — More than 8,000 students at Florida State University have signed an online petition to remove the student Senate president over social media posts described as anti-Semitic. The Change.org petition against Ahmad Daraldik was launched two weeks ago and garnered over 3,000 signatures in the first three days, FSUNews.com reported. Daraldik survived a vote of no confidence during a Senate Zoom meeting on June 17. He became the Student Government Association’s leader earlier this month when his predecessor was removed over derogatory com...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — If Israel annexes parts of the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority will declare a state on the 1967 borders with a capital in eastern Jerusalem, the P.A. prime minister said Tuesday. Mohammad Shtayyeh made the remarks in Ramallah to members of the Foreign Press Association, i24 News reported. Shtayyeh called annexation as “existential threat” to Palestinians, and said such a move also would mean the end of the Palestinians’ recognition of the State of Israel, which was given in an exchange of letters in 1993 between Prime Min...
(JTA) — President Donald Trump authorized sanctions against the International Criminal Court should it pursue cases against U.S. citizens and cited what he said was its anti-Israel bias. In an executive order issued Thursday, Trump approved economic sanctions and travel restrictions against ICC workers directly involved in investigating American troops and intelligence officials for possible war crimes in Afghanistan. The United States has not consented to the investigations. The travel restrictions also apply to the workers’ families. The U.S...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — When Natan Sharansky learned in December that he would become the eighth Genesis Prize honoree, he decided he would use his $1 million prize money to promote issues to which he has devoted his life: human rights and Zionism. That was before the coronavirus crisis. Now, Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident who has become a prominent leader in Israel, and the Genesis Prize Foundation are announcing that his winnings will instead go to organizations fighting the pandemic and supporting individuals most affected by it in Israel,...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Palestinian Authority rejected a humanitarian shipment of medical supplies sent by the United Arab Emirates because it coordinated the shipment with Israel. The Etihad Airways flight that landed Tuesday night in Israel carrying 14 tons of medical aid to deal with the coronavirus was reported to be the first publicly acknowledged direct flight from Abu Dhabi to Israel. Israel and the UAE do not have diplomatic relations and there is no air travel between the two countries. “The UAE authorities did not coordinate with the...
(JTA) — When Rabbi Moshe Hauer last week told Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top health advisor, that synagogues wouldn’t let congregants sit within 8 feet of each other once services resume, he wasn’t just making a joke about Jews’ tendency toward closeness. He was also previewing a set of formal guidelines that the organization he helps lead, the Orthodox Union, would release just a day later. With the Rabbinical Council of America, the Orthodox Union on Friday released a 13-point guide for gradual and controlled reopening of synagogue...
JERUSALEM (JTA)-The flags of countries that are home to Jewish communities hard hit by COVID-19 were projected on the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. The event held Tuesday night by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry in support of Jewish communities around the world and their home countries also saw representatives of youth groups in Israel waving the flags of dozens of countries in front of the Jaffa Gate. "Demonstrating support tonight for our Jewish brothers and sisters in all communities...
(JTA)—The Senate has introduced legislation to enhance partnerships between American and Israeli companies on COVID-19 projects, thus lessening U.S. dependence on China for life-saving medications and treatments. The bipartisan legislation was introduced on Wednesday as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on a whirlwind eight-hour visit to Israel, criticized China while praising Israel. “You’re a great partner,” Pompeo said in an appearance with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before their meeting in Jerusalem. “You share your informati...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—The United States is ready to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and other parts of the West Bank with conditions, the U.S. ambassador to Israel told an Israel newspaper. In an interview with the Israel Hayom daily, David Friedman said Israel must freeze building in other parts of the West Bank and prepare to reenter peace negotiations with the Palestinians on the basis of the Trump peace plan. The plan requires the Israeli prime minister to agree to negotiate with the Palestinians “in good faith” for four...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—The first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary thought the term “anti-Semite” would be short lived and thus did not include it in the original edition of the massive lexicon. A 1900 letter by the editor, James Murray, explaining why he omitted the term was discovered recently in the archives of the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem and placed online. The OED was first published in several installments between 1884 and 1928. Murray, a British lexicographer, was writing to scholar and anti-Zionist Claude Monte...
JERUSALEM (JTA)-As they do each year, Israelis stood at attention Monday for one minute as sirens wailed throughout the country to usher in Yom Hazikaron, or Memorial Day. What happened afterward was unlike other years, however: The official state ceremony at the Western Wall was held without an audience. That was because of the restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi participated in the...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—An Israeli falafel shop owner broke down in tears in a television interview on Sunday that resonated across the country as a symbolic encapsulation of the economic toll that the coronavirus is taking on small businesses. “Look at my wallet, it’s empty,” said the shop owner, Yuval Carmi, pulling out his wallet during the Channel 13 interview. “I don’t have a shekel in my pocket.” He added: “I’m embarrassed to face my children, to tell them I have nothing I can buy for you. I have nothing to give them. I have nothing to give t...
