Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 601 - 625 of 690
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech, in the end, was about reminding Americans that the enemy of your enemy may still be your enemy. He may have lost some friends in the process. Netanyahu spoke before the U.S. Congress on Tuesday following a six-week buildup that spurred questions about the propriety of an Israeli prime minister using Congress as a platform for his views two weeks before elections in his country and resulted in a rupture, for now, between the O...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-When Benjamin Netanyahu faces the Congress next month, two things are unlikely to come up in his speech: a consideration of diplomatic protocol and an analysis of the efficacy of sanctions. Media attention ahead of the speech has focused on the diplomatic crisis set off by the invitation to the Israeli prime minister from U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who kept President Barack Obama in the dark, and the ensuing political tussle between backers and...
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (JTA)-Jewish campus groups were ready for the painful national dialogue that took place in the wake of murky rape allegations at the University of Virginia. That's because organizations like Hillel and historically Jewish Greek houses such as Alpha Epsilon Pi, Zeta Beta Tau and Sigma Delta Tau had been having the conversations for months before the explosive Rolling Stone story made national headlines-first for the brutality of the alleged gang rape detailed in the magazine...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Alan Gross was imprisoned while trying to connect Cuba's isolated Jewish community to the wider world. The deal that got him released five years later may do just that and much more. Gross' flight home to suburban Washington, D.C., on Dec. 17 with his wife, Judy, was part of a historic deal that overturns more than five decades of U.S. policy isolating the Communist island nation helmed by the Castro brothers. "We will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-I've been JTA's Washington bureau chief for 11 years, but this was the first time I scored a coveted invitation to the annual White House Chanukah party. A Washington tradition started by President George W. Bush, the party has actually expanded (to meet demand) to two: one in the afternoon and one in the evening. This year's mood was particularly festive, given that the parties were on Wednesday, the same day that Alan Gross was released from five years in a Cuban prison....
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The stabbing of a rabbinical student at Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in New York underscores three things that Jewish security officials have been urging in recent years: Be alert for copycats, cooperate with law enforcement and don’t stay away from shul. American Jewish community officials have been on the lookout for an attack on a synagogue ever since terrorists killed four worshippers and a policeman in Jerusalem last month, said Paul Goldenberg, the director of Secure Communities Network, which coordinates security for...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Two factors make congressional intervention on Iran almost inevitable: The inability of nuclear negotiators to reach a deal by the deadline and the Republican sweep of midterm elections on Nov. 4. The talks, centered on the status of Iran’s nuclear program, were extended from Monday’s deadline to June 30. Meanwhile, the pro-Israel community, led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is seeking support for proposed legislation that would insert Congress into the process. “It is now essential that Congress take up...
WASHINGTON (JTA) – The Mahmoud Abbas whom Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused of incitement has said the Jewish state practices genocide and called the temporary closure of the Temple Mount after a terrorist attack a "declaration of war." Yet virtually no one in Washington wants Abbas to do anything but what he's done for nine years: be president of the Palestinian Authority. For that matter, neither does Netanyahu. That means the $500 million annually that the Palestinian A...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Joe and Bibi? Still buddies. U.S. and Israel? Still allies. Agreement on Iran and the Palestinians? Well. The governments of President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were back on joshing terms this week, but the deep differences that led to recent name-calling exchanges still percolated. Netanyahu and Vice President Joe Biden, as well as top aides in both governments, used back-to-back conferences this weekend to get the message across loud and clear: We love one another. “Ron, you’d better damn well repor...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-There were bagel breakfasts, a Friday night kiddush in English and Hebrew, and plenty of talk about how to keep the grandkids Jewish. In some ways, the inaugural conference last weekend of the Israeli American Council was much like other Jewish gatherings, except the Jews were Israelis and a lot of what makes Jewish America what it is remains alien to them-for instance, bagels, bilingual blessings and fears of assimilation. "We need to know each other better," said the IAC's...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Results late Tuesday showed Republicans winning control of the United States Senate as well as wins for fresh faces with close Jewish and pro-Israel ties. In Long Island, Lee Zeldin, a state senator, was set to become the sole Jewish Republican in Congress, ending a short drought that commenced with the defeat of Rep. Eric Cantor in the Republican primary in June. As of 11:45 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday, Republicans were projected to pick up seven Senate seats, one more than the...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Is the Obama administration preparing the ground for an Iran nuclear deal — one in which both sides can claim victory? Wendy Sherman, the top U.S. negotiator, in an unusually detailed and optimistic speech on Oct. 23, for the first time suggested that the pieces of a deal were in place and all that was needed was Iranian willingness to wrap it up by the Nov. 24 deadline. “I can tell you that all the components of a plan that should be acceptable to both sides are on the table,” Sherman, an undersecretary of state, said at a C...
JERUSALEM (JTA)-Ralph Goldman, who as a young man helped shepherd the State of Israel into existence and later devoted his professional life to bringing humanitarian relief to Jews across the globe, has died at 100. Goldman, who worked with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee since 1968-he served twice as its chief executive and still held the title of honorary executive vice president-died Tuesday in Jerusalem, where he had lived for decades. Active in arming and populating...
WASHINGTON (JTA)— Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is talking tough. And Israel and the United States don’t seem to mind too much—or else think their best option at this point is to grin and bear it. Abbas used his Sept. 26 speech to the United Nations General Assembly to accuse Israel of racism and genocide. He and his aides again are raising the possibility of seeking U.N. action to sanction Israel. They appear ready to bypass negotiations with Israel in favor of seeking an international declaration of a Palestinian state...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Saying a nuclear Iran would be a “thousand times” greater threat to the world than ISIS, Israel’s ambassador to the United States warned against including Iran in any coalition to derail the jihadist group. Ron Dermer, speaking Wednesday to guests at a pre-Rosh Hashanah reception at his residence in suburban Maryland, also cautioned the U.S. against accommodating Iran during the current effort to degrade ISIS. His urgent tone was the latest sign of a split between the Obama and Netanyahu governments over how to deal with Ir...
WASHINGTON (JTA) – It was the first Persian Gulf state to establish ties with Israel, the first to welcome Israeli students and the only one to allow direct dialing to Israel. Israeli athletes shine on its courts. Now Qatar is on the outs with Israel because of its embrace of another regional pariah: Hamas. Calls are circulating in the U.S. Congress to isolate Qatar— a state that has polished its pro-Western image in recent years, welcoming in foreign universities, backing the global news channel Al Jazeera and prepping to host the 2022 Wor...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The dramatic developments in the war between Hamas and Israel have been accompanied by sharp ups and downs in U.S.-Israel relations. On Monday, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, made nice with the U.S. national security adviser, Susan Rice, before an audience of anxious U.S. Jewish leaders. But right before, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bluntly vowed to continue Israel’s military campaign against Hamas, notwithstanding President Obama’s unequivocal demand for a cease-fire. And within a day o...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-For many Israelis, eyes are turning south watching yet another conflict unfold with Hamas. Yet thoughts are also turned inward, contemplating the sense of national solidarity occasioned by the abduction and murder of three teenagers and then shattered by the murder of a fourth. The Israeli media-the social and conventional varieties-have exploded in recent days with recrimination and self-recrimination over the brutal murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, the Palestinian teenager from...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The Obama administration's anti-Semitism monitor has added an issue to his office's portfolio: defending circumcision in Europe. Circumcision has become a top focus for Ira Forman, the State Department's special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism. He has been using the pulpit his office provides to warn European governments that moves to ban ritual circumcision could lead to the demise of their countries' Jewish communities. "Because circumcision is essentially universal...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Escalations between Hamas and Israel are nothing new. What's missing this time, analysts say, is the alignment of outside interests that has resolved such fights in the past. Egypt's government lacks the influence over Hamas of its predecessors and the United States is in hand-washing mode on the Middle East, said Ami Ayalon, a former chief of the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service. "In the past, Egyptians could play a major role and America had an interest" in...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Two decades ago the Jewish community united in support of landmark religious freedom legislation. Now the Supreme Court's application of that law has Jewish groups divided. Leading Jewish advocacy groups denounced the court's 5-4 decision Monday in the Hobby Lobby case granting religious freedoms protections to companies, while Orthodox groups lauded the ruling. In ruling that closely owned corporate firms with religious objections do not have to provide contraceptive coverage...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Is the new Palestinian government kosher under U.S. law? A range of American Middle East policy analysts and current and former U.S. officials say that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas threaded the needle last week and created a government of technocrats untainted by Hamas and not subject to its influence, although Hamas has declared its backing of the government. That could all change, however, if elections to replace the interim government are held in about six...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Which way will Presbyterians go this time? That’s a question Jewish groups and their Presbyterian allies are nervously asking as they work to head off divestment efforts within the church targeting Israel. The fear is the efforts could pass this time after a narrow defeat two years ago. A successful divestment vote at the biennial Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly this month could precipitate a rupture between the mainline Protestant denomination and the Jewish community, they warn. Jewish-Presbyterian rel...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Can Rand Paul woo his party's Jews? The Kentucky senator and likely candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination is stepping up his Jewish outreach. In recent weeks, Paul chatted with rabbis on a conference call and proposed legislation to cut funding to the Palestinian Authority unless it recognizes Israel as a Jewish state. Making inroads with Jewish Republicans is an uphill battle for Paul, an ardent anti-interventionist and opponent of foreign aid. A few years...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The best move for the Obama administration on the Middle East peace front may be to take a few steps back. That's what some observers are advising in the wake of the collapse of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The Palestinian unity talks mean that President Obama and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry have little choice but to take a wait-and-see approach, according to the Israeli and American experts interviewed by JTA. "The time has to be taken to see if the Fatah and Hamas...
