Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — From Tampa Bay to Edmonton, a campaign intends to Shine A Light on antisemitism this Hanukkah. “You can’t dispel darkness with darkness. You have to dispel darkness with light,” Adam Teitelbaum, executive director at the Israel Action Network and associate vice president for public affairs at Jewish Federations of North America, told JNS. “The ability to shine a light on the multiple ways in which antisemitism manifests in today’s society is an incredible opportunity for the coordination and collaboration of institutions across not...
(JNS) - Months after her nomination was held up due to prior antisemitic comments, the U.S. Senate confirmed Elizabeth Frawley Bagley to the post of ambassador to Brazil on Wednesday. The nomination has been blocked in June by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a tie, party-line vote. It came after comments by Bagley, a longtime diplomat and Democratic Party donor, were uncovered by The Washington Free Beacon. Bagley's nomination was suddenly discharged by the committee last week. Her...
(JNS) — With pomp and circumstance and some of his trademark disarming humor, former U.S. President Bill Clinton was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Haifa in New York City on Monday night. The degree was bestowed upon Clinton for his longtime commitment to the State of Israel, for promoting coexistence in the Middle East and for the Clinton Global Initiative’s involvement in social and economic sustainability. Clinton’s friend New York University President Emeritus John Sexton also received an honorary doctorate, with the e...
(JNS) — It has been proven that the Birthright program produces lifelong connections between young Jews and Israel. Studies also show that participants are more likely to build Jewish families. But could it produce the next Jewish comedy star? The new Birthright Israel Labs initiative is holding a competition to find Jewish comedy’s next breakout performer. The winner gets a coveted slot at the all-Jewish Chosen Comedy Festival in Miami on Dec. 14, joking it up alongside some of the business’ more well-known comedians and musicians. “I’ve...
(JNS) - Now that the shock has worn off, the question for Birthright is who will step up. Last week, Miriam Adelson, Birthright Israel's most generous donor, addressed a board meeting of the organization known for bringing tens of thousands of young Jews to Israel each year. She and her late husband, Sheldon Adelson, through the Adelson Family Foundation, have contributed nearly $500 million to Birthright over the past 15 years, but, after slashing the foundation's annual commitment nearly in...
(JNS) — A pro-Israel non-profit dedicated to combating antisemitism on U.S. college campuses released a study Wednesday showing not only the safety of Jewish students under threat but Jewish identity itself. The annual report from the AMCHA Initiative found a year-over-year doubling of threats related to Jewish identity at 60 percent of schools most popular with Jewish students. Those threats are defined as attempts to “dissociate Zionism from Judaism, pit Zionism against progressive values, accuse Zionist Jews of undue privilege, power and...
(JNS) - One could circle Brooklyn's Edward R. Murrow High School for blocks on Tuesday. There were no political activists handing out campaign material. A truck with inaudible speakers passed the school's polling place once in a four-hour window. Neighborhood residents could be forgiven for not realizing an election was taking place. Outside of the "Vote Here" signs zip-tied to the fence by the entrance to the polls, there was only one glaring reminder for this Midwood community, which is...
(JNS) — At a moment of sharply rising antisemitism, a Jewish social media star known for her dance videos is getting deadly serious. Montana Tucker’s 10-part docu-series, “How to: Never Forget,” has drawn millions of views on TikTok since launching at the end of last month. The series, edited into digestible two-and-a-half minute segments, is the result of an intense trip by Montana and a film crew to Poland, where they capture the story of Tucker’s grandparents during the Holocaust. The produ...
(JNS) — Following an extended period of wrangling, the investment firm Morningstar reached an agreement on Monday with pro-Israel organizations to alter its methodology in rating the risk it assigns to companies doing business in and with Israel. Morningstar and its subsidiary Sustainalytics have been accused by critics of utilizing anti-Israel sources and weighing them disproportionately in assigning Environmental, Social and Governance risk ratings to companies as guidance for socially-minded investors. The ratings, which assigned a higher ri...
(JNS) - While members of the United Nations Security Council on Friday expressed alarm over the rising number of Palestinian casualties, Israel's ambassador urged them to take a look at the underlying reason: ongoing security operations meant to stop a brutal escalation in terrorism. "Israel is in the midst of a terror wave," Israeli envoy Gilad Erdan told the council during Friday's quarterly debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "Since the start of this year alone, there have been over...
(JNS) — It took “guts” for Israel to sign the American-brokered maritime border deal with Lebanon, U.S. President Joe Biden told Israeli President Isaac Herzog ahead of their Oval Office meeting on Wednesday. “I have just completed a very detailed, in-depth discussion with the president of the United States, Joe Biden, a true friend of Israel, as part of the unique relationship, the unbreakable bond, the historic relations between Israel and the United States. We had an open and frank discussion on many issues. I thanked the president for the...
(JNS) — While under investigation in 20 states for anti-Israel bias, Chicago-based investment firm Morningstar repeatedly pointed to an independent report purportedly absolving it of such behavior. But White & Case, the law firm that authored the report, was listed this week as a sponsor of a program at the University of Chicago’s Law School that featured a virulently anti-Israel activist and perpetuated the notion that Israel practices apartheid. A flyer for the program held on Oct. 12, titled “Apartheid: International Law in the Israe...
(JNS) — The heavily Jewish town of Surfside, Florida, passed a resolution last week establishing a twin city relationship with the Samaria Regional Council. Passed by a 5-0 margin, the partnership encompasses some three dozen Jewish communities and will honor Samaria Regional Council Chairman Yossi Dagan with a ceremonial key to the town. Surfside’s first Orthodox Jewish mayor, Shlomo Danzinger, told JNS the move was motivated in part by a desire to thank Israel for its help in the search and rescue operation at the site of the collapse las...
(JNS) — The Israeli global crowd-funding venture firm OurCrowd announced this week its launch of a $200 million Global Health Equity Fund. News of the collaboration with the WHO (World Health Organization) Foundation was shared at this year’s Clinton Global Initiative in New York City on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. The fund will focus on healthcare solutions with a potentially global impact. “COVID-19 was a wake-up call for me as an investor,” said Jon Medved, founder and CEO of OurCrowd. “The pandemic opened my...
(JNS) — The City University of New York has reversed course after it assigned a former employee of a vehemently anti-Israel NGO to investigate allegations of anti-Zionist discrimination. The probe came at the request of Prof. Jeffrey Lax, chair of the business department at CUNY’s Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn. He alleged pervasive discrimination and harassment against Zionists and Jews on campus, as well as retaliation and a hostile work environment created by Kingsborough President Claudia Schrader. Lax’s complaint came as Kings...
(JNS) — After the Jewish investor network, JLens placed General Mills on its “Do Not Invest” list, it says the conglomerate is partially reversing its decision to remove its subsidiary Pillsbury brand entirely from Israel, months after selling its stake in a Jerusalem refrigerated-dough manufacturing plant. JLens CEO Julie Hammerman told JNS that her organization “spent the past couple of months engaging in dialogue with General Mills and also doing our own research.” Hammerman said that after sending people into grocery stores in Israel to...
(JNS) — Shortly after Cairo helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Egyptian diplomat let loose a barrage on Israel on the international stage. At Monday afternoon’s emergency session at the U.N. Security Council, Egyptian Ambassador to the United Nations Osama Abdel Khalek surprisingly tore into Israel, hours after his Israeli counterpart praised Egypt for mediating a halt of violence. Abdel Khalek made no mention of PIJ during his speech, labeling all Gazans killed in the weekend’s clashes as “martyrs,” with...
(JNS) - Broadcasting the Summer Olympic Games is a massive operation, with more than 7,000 personnel covering 28 sports utilizing 1,000-plus cameras, taking the games global. For the first time, the so-called Jewish Olympics will be broadcast around the world from July 12-26 with slightly more humble resources, though still requiring a herculean effort. The legendary former TV broadcaster for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, Marc Zumoff, is taking 14 hand-selected college and high school...
(JNS) — An anti-Israel activist who shared a number of social media posts with anti-Semitic content has campaigned with multiple Democrats over the past year. Mahel Abdel Qader has come under fire for repeatedly promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In 2017, he shared a graphic that included the names of dozens of Jewish members of Congress, implying that they have a dual loyalty to Israel and the United States. The Daily Caller reported that, in 2018, Qader shared an anti-Semitic video that claimed Jews are “satanic” and control the m...
(JNS) — There was little time for a period of transition for Julie Platt. But with her experience, there was little need for one. Announced in February as the incoming chair of the Jewish Federations of North America Board of Trustees, Platt was unanimously confirmed for the role. Only the second woman to lead the organization, Platt is a former banker who has focused on promoting Jewish education and helping to rescue the Jewish camp movement during the pandemic. Platt served as JFNA’s national campaign chair and chair of LiveSecure, the org...
(JNS) — While an official U.N. Commission of Inquiry seeks Israel’s diplomatic isolation, 21 nations came out in support of the Jewish state on Monday, expressing concern about the commission’s uncommonly broad mandate and the U.N. Human Rights Council’s irregular targeting of Israel. In Geneva, the three members of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry—all of whom have a history of anti-Israel activity and rhetoric—addressed the Human Rights Council and the press in the wake of their first report released last week. On Tuesday, commission...
(JNS) — The White House is testing a unique solution to the growing Ukraine refugee crisis. The American Jewish community is testing its response. The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has launched a direct sponsorship program for Ukrainian refugees called Uniting for Ukraine, which will serve as a major piece of the president’s pledge to accept up to 100,000 refugees in the United States. A new online portal started accepting applications, where individual Americans, as well as private and public organizations, can apply to financiall...
(JNS) — Two leading Jewish conservatives blasted New York City’s Museum of Jewish Heritage–A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on May 6, claiming that museum staff told them they could not hold an event there if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was invited to speak. The op-ed, titled “Persona Non Grata at a Holocaust Memorial,” was authored by former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams, along with Eric Cohen. They serve as the chairman and CEO, respectively, of the Tikvah Fund, a conservative Jewish think...
(JNS) — A collection of pro-Israel organizations has decided that an unprecedented attack on Israel requires a response. Israel faces a first-time-ever open-ended U.N. Commission of Inquiry created by the U.N. Human Rights Council, which includes notorious human-rights violators such as Cuba, China, Libya, Somalia and Venezuela. The U.N. General Assembly voted late last year to give the commission a budget of $4.5 million a year, allowing it to hire some 18 full-time staff members, almost the same number as the human-rights office branch of t...
(JNS) - Colleyville. Pittsburgh. Poway. Too many Jewish institutions are wondering if they'll be next. Too many in Brooklyn, N.Y., and elsewhere already deal with the reality of antisemitic attacks that keep on coming. The federal government says it stands ready to help ahead of the holiday season. Marcus Coleman, director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, sat down one-on-one with JNS to explain what resources are available for...
