Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA)-Eleven memorial candles stood on a table at the start of the public memorial service for the attack one year ago on the Tree of Life synagogue building. Family members of the 11 people killed in the attack walked around the table holding hands as a string ensemble played in the background. They then lit the candles, wiping their eyes and hugging each other. The Jewish community was joined at Sunday's ceremony by members of the Christian and Muslim faith communities, as well as city and... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israeli embassies around the world have increased security and awareness over fears that Iran will attack Israel by targeting a diplomatic mission on foreign soil. The diplomatic missions have been put on high alert and ordered to take certain security measures, according to reports. The Israeli military’s chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both have warned in recent days that Iran has become more aggressive and apt to respond to Israeli attacks on Iranian targets in Syria and Leb... Full story
(JTA)—The recently elected Oslo City Council is getting right to work: The Norwegian lawmakers are banning the purchase of goods and services from Israeli Jewish settlements by municipal departments and other local authorities. It is the sixth Norwegian municipality to ban settlement goods and services, as well as one county council, according to the statement. The Oslo an is part of the platform for 2019-23 adopted recently by the City Council, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel announced in a statement on its w... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-Benny Gantz said Wednesday that he will aim to form a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party to "repair the divisions in our society." "I promised I would form a liberal unity government and that is what I intend to do," Gantz said. The Blue and White party leader made the remarks after being officially tasked by President Reuven Rivlin with forming a government. After accepting the mandate at Rivlin's official residence in Jerusalem, Gantz commented, "I... Full story
(JTA)-Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley will be honored by the World Jewish Congress. Haley will receive the WJC's annual Theodor Herzl Award, recognizing individuals who work to promote Herzl's ideals for a safer, more tolerant world for the Jewish people, WJC said in a statement. In addition, actor, singer, director, and photographer Joel Grey will be presented with the WJC's fourth Teddy Kollek Award for the Advancement of Jewish Culture. World Jewish Congress... Full story
(JTA)—The Tree of Life synagogue building, the site of an attack a year ago that left 11 worshippers dead, will reopen as a “center for Jewish life in the United States.” The Tree of Life Congregation issued a statement to announce its “vision” for the building on Friday. The building, which was home to three different congregations, has not reopened since the Oct. 27, 2019 attack. The attack left the building “unsuitable for worship,” according to the statement. It was in need of serious repair and renovation before the attack took place, i... Full story
(JTA)—Maryland state officials said they will strengthen requirements for Holocaust education in middle schools and high schools. The announcement by State Superintendent Karen Salmon comes days before the one-year anniversary of the shooting by a white supremacist gunman at a Pittsburgh synagogue building that left 11 worshippers dead Among the plans are to teach about the roots of anti-Semitism in middle school social studies classes and deepen instruction about the Holocaust in high school as part of history courses, The Washington Post r... Full story
(JTA)—A teenage boy in Victoria, Australia that allegedly sent threatening messages to a Jewish boy who had been forced to kiss the shoe of a Muslim student and to his mother has been charged for the threats. The boy, 16, was arrested by Victoria police and charged with stalking, harassing and threatening to kill the Jewish boy and his mother, The Age reported. The teen, who reportedly was arrested earlier this month will appear next month in Children’s Court, the newspaper said. The threats were sent after photos of the incident in which a 1... Full story
(JTA)-People across the United States and around the world will join together virtually on the one-year anniversary of the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue building in suburban Pittsburgh. The virtual commemoration, called "Pause with Pittsburgh," is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Oct. 27. The moment of solidarity and remembrance for the 11 people who were killed during the attack will include, for those in North America, a text including a video with the mourning prayer and a link to Pittsburgh's... Full story
(JTA)—More than 10,000 people marched in Berlin against anti-Semitism and in a show of support for the victims of anti-Semitic violence in the city of Halle. The march on Sunday left from Bebelplatz, significant as a site of Nazi book-burning, to the New Synagogue in central Berlin. Several thousand others marched on Saturday in the streets of other German cities including Hamburg and Marburg. The march comes days after a German man with anti-Semitic and white supremacist motives in a livestreamed attack tried and failed to enter the s... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Demi Lovato had gushed about her “magical” visit to Israel, saying she felt a “sense of spirituality” there. Now the 27-year-old pop star and actress is apologizing to those who may have been offended by her trip. In Israel, Lovato made three posts earlier this week on Instagram, where she has 74 million followers, speaking glowingly of the country. “Entertainment Tonight” reported that reactions to those posts included criticism from accusing her of promoting or supporting Israel despite the country’s treatment of the Palestini... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—White House Middle East peace envoy Jason Greenblatt wrote in an op-ed that his work on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan has left him “proud, grateful, surprised, sad, and hopeful.” “I wonder if my deceased grandparents who fled Hungary with their families decades ago—one from the Holocaust and one from communism—could have imagined their grandson would one day serve in the White House, attempting to solve one of the most complex conflicts in history,” Greenblatt wrote in the op-ed published Friday by CNN. Greenblatt an... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-The morning after Israel's second national election in five months, the results are still unclear. According to the latest vote count, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trailing his rival, Benny Gantz, by the slimmest of margins: The incumbent's Likud and the challenger's Blue and White remain within a seat of each other. More important, neither candidate appears able to form a governing coalition outright with allies on the right or the left. In the 120-seat Knesset, the... Full story
(JTA)-Cokie Roberts, a pioneering journalist who with her husband wrote an interfaith Haggadah and published a book about their interfaith marriage, has died. Roberts was one of the few female voices on the air when she began in the 1970s and won several prestigious awards for her work, including an Emmy. She was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2008. Roberts died Tuesday in Washington, D.C., at 75 from complications of breast cancer, the family said in a statement. She... Full story
(JTA)—A new board member of The Women’s March who has disparaged Israel and the FBI on Twitter was voted off two days after she was appointed. “Zahra Billoo has been removed from board membership effective immediately,” the board posted Wednesday on Twitter. “We found some of her public statements incompatible with the values and mission of the organization. Women’s March will continue to build an inclusive and effective movement that holds space for all women.” Billoo is a lawyer who serves as executive director of the San Francisco Bay... Full story
(JTA)—The New York Police Department said it will increase its presence in Jewish neighborhoods before and during the High Holidays. Increased foot patrols and specialized units such as counterterrorism teams will be deployed throughout the communities, Commissioner James O’Neill announced Wednesday. He said not all of them would be identifiable. The NYPD has reported a 63 percent rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes throughout the city this year. Brooklyn’s heavily Jewish neighborhoods have seen a slew of attacks on visibly Jewish people over... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Explosions earlier this week at two Hamas police checkpoints in Gaza City left three policemen dead. But it wasn’t Israel that planted the explosives, as many might have suspected. Hamas says it was Islamic State suicide bombers. A day after the deadly attacks, Hamas began mass arrests of supporters of Islamic State and other Salafist organizations in the Gaza Strip. It’s not the first time that Hamas and members of the Islamic State, or ISIS, have clashed in recent years. Israel and the United States consider both Hamas and I... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and the Blue and White were again locked in a virtual dead heat at the close of voting in Israel, exit polls on Tuesday showed. Both Blue and White, which is led by Benny Gantz, a former military chief of staff, and Likud took 32 seats in the upcoming Knesset, or parliament, according to polling by the Kan national broadcaster. Channel 12 reported that Blue and White had 34 seats and Likud 33, while Channel 13 had Blue and White with a 33-31 edge. The two parties had tied in Apr... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that if he is re-elected, he will immediately annex the Jordan Valley. Netanyahu also promised to annex West Bank Jewish settlements in what he termed a "dramatic announcement" exactly one week before Israelis go to the polls for national elections on Sept. 17. The announcement was a plea for votes. "This is a democracy. I won't do anything without a clear mandate. So I'm asking for a mandate, to do this thing that enjoys a... Full story
(JTA)-The Israel-based humanitarian group IsraAID, B'nai B'rith International and Chabad are among those pitching in to help the Bahamas in the wake of Hurricane Dorian's devastation, which has killed at least 20 people. "We are in the midst of a historic tragedy in parts of the northern Bahamas," Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said at a news conference Tuesday, adding the "devastation is unprecedented and extensive." The hurricane stalled over Grand Bahama Island for nearly two days, leaving... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Anti-aircraft missiles were fired from Lebanon at an Israeli military base and at military vehicles. “There are a number of confirmed hits,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Sunday afternoon. It later confirmed that a military ambulance and a military post were hit, but that there were no casualties. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also serves as defense minister, spoke about the incident late Sunday afternoon at a news conference to mark the opening of Honduras’ diplomatic office in Jerusalem. “We are... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will extend “Jewish sovereignty” over all communities in Judea and Samaria. He made the remarks Sunday to the new first graders on the first day of school at a national religious school in the Jewish settlement of Elkana, located in the northern West Bank, which is Samaria. “We will not uproot anyone here. There will be no more Gush Katif; there will be no more uprooting, and with G-d’s help we will apply Jewish sovereignty over all communities as part of the land of Israel an... Full story
(JTA)—Students at a Southern California high school made a Nazi salute and sang a Nazi marching song at the start of an awards ceremony. The school district will not say publicly if or how it disciplined the students. The incident, which took place last year, involved 10 members of the boys water polo team at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, California, the Daily Beast reported. The video was posted to Instagram by one of the athletes, according to the Daily Beast, and widely circulated among students at the high school. A spokesperson f... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-A 19-year-old yeshiva student was found stabbed to death in the West Bank's Etzion settlement bloc. Dvir Sorek of the Ofra settlement was reported missing on Wednesday evening, hours after he had said he was returning from a shopping trip to Jerusalem to buy a book for his rabbi as an end-of-year gift from his class. His body was found at about 3 a.m. Thursday on a road leading to the Migdal Oz settlement where he attended the Machanaim yeshiva, reportedly clutching the books he... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-Israel's upcoming elections in September-just five months after the last ones in April-are essentially a do-over. In the April election, the right wing won a majority. But because Israel has a parliamentary system, a bunch of small right-wing parties had to agree to join a governing coalition. They were too divided to do that, so now Israel is trying again. Unsurprisingly, people have basically the same opinions they had earlier this year. In other words, polls haven't shifted... Full story
