Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 97
(JNS) — As nuclear talks between Iran and world powers continue in Vienna, Iran appears to be already eying its next moves. On Jan. 14, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian visited China to discuss the 25-year cooperation agreement signed by the two countries earlier this year. That agreement aims to boost economic and political relations at the very same time the United States is looking to reduce its presence in the Middle East. “At the beginning of the new year in 2022, I am very happy to start my first visit to China since...
(JNS) — A Jewish civil-rights group is calling on the University of Massachusetts Boston to investigate an incident that occurred this summer, where pro-Palestinian activists targeted and accosted a journalist over his views on Israel. The event took place on June 24 in front of the Anti-Defamation League’s New England Regional Office in Boston. Dexter Van Zile, a journalist with the watchdog group CAMERA, was “accosted, spat at, shoved, and called a Nazi and a pig solely based on his perceived identity as a Zionist,” by members of the UMass B...
(JNS) — Jewish Democratic Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) is introducing legislation that would make a two-state solution official U.S. policy. Named the “Two-State Solution Act,” it states that “only the outcome of a two-state solution can both ensure the state of Israel’s survival as a democratic state and a national home for the Jewish people and fulfill the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a state of their own,” Politico first reported. It further states that the West Bank, including eastern Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, are...
(JNS) The Florida State Board of Education adopted new civics and Holocaust-education standards for Florida’s public schools in July, which had been pushed by the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis. The new social-studies standards spell out what students should learn about civics and the Holocaust in their classes from kindergarten to 12th grade. Florida has required that students be taught about the Holocaust since 1994, but there had been no standards detailing what specifically should be covered and in what grade. The new standards aim to provi...
(JNS) — The fallout over the decision by Ben & Jerry’s to no longer sell its products in what the company calls “occupied Palestinian territory,” which includes parts of Jerusalem, immediately rippled throughout the Jewish world, with Israel’s leaders and pro-Israel groups urging action and threatening legal consequences against the ice-cream company and its corporate owner, Unilever. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with Unilever CEO Alan Jope on Tuesday, saying that the Jewish state takes the move very seriously. According...
(JNS) — A dozen Jewish Democratic lawmakers have issued a statement strongly condemning recent remarks made by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who equated Israeli and U.S. actions to terrorist groups like Hamas and the Taliban. In a tweet on Monday, she wrote: “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan and the Taliban.” Her tweet also included a link to a video, where she questioned U.S. Secretary of St...
(JNS) — The city council of Cambridge, Mass., rejected a resolution supporting the BDS movement. The resolution, Policy Order #109, was voted down after nearly seven-and-a-half hours of public testimony by more than 300 people late Tuesday. The proposed resolution sought to direct the city manager to “review corporate contracts and identify any companies that are in violation of Cambridge’s policy on discrimination, including (but not limited to) Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Hewlett Packard Incorporated over their role in abetting apart...
(JNS) — The Irish government has endorsed a parliamentary motion condemning the “de facto annexation” of the West Bank by the Israeli government, becoming the first European Union country to do so. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney supported the motion and condemned what he said was “manifestly unequal” treatment of Palestinians. “The scale, pace and strategic nature of Israel’s actions on settlement expansion and the intent behind it have brought us to a point where we need to be honest about what is actually happening on the ground. … It...
(JNS) — The escalating conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is one of the first major policy tests for the Biden administration. Despite U.S. President Joe Biden’s hope to shift foreign policy away from the Middle East to deal with threats from China and Russia, it is now being confronted with the difficult reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JNS that the Biden administration is in a “decidedly awkward position” right now. “Amid n...
(JNS) - As the World Council of Churches goes full throttle against Israel, Christians United for Israel, one of the most powerful voices for Israel in the United States, marked its 15th anniversary. "We could never have imagined CUFI would achieve so much, so quickly. But God has blessed us because we are fulfilling our biblical mandate to stand with Israel and His Chosen people," Pastor John Hagee, founder and chairman of CUFI, told JNS. "This said, I noted when we launched CUFI that there...
(JNS) — Often synonymous with Jewish life on campus, Hillel has been a gathering point for Jewish students across hundreds of campuses in the United States for decades. While being a “big tent” organization that seeks to accommodate a wide range of Jewish religious beliefs and political affiliations has long posed certain challenges, the coronavirus pandemic over the past year has likely been Hillel’s biggest test in recent memory. JNS had the opportunity to speak with both the new CEO of Hillel International—Adam Lehman, who took on his role...
(JNS) — A Jewish student at Tufts University who claims that he has been the subject months-long campaign of anti-Semitic intimidation, harassment and discrimination is calling on the university to intervene. Max Price, a junior who is a member of the Tufts Community Union Judiciary (TCUJ), which is tasked with fact-checking and removing bias student government legislation, has been outspoken against an SJP proposal to include its “Deadly Exchange Campaign” referendum in the student election ballot. “Mr. Price has been subjected to anti-Se...
(JNS) - The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, better known as HIAS, was for the better part of a century responsible for helping settle generations of Jewish refugees in their new homes in the United States. From 1881 through the release of Jews from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the organization worked not only to resettle the new arrivals, but was involved in assisting them legally as well. Yet in a way, HIAS was a product of its own success and the success of the American Jewish...
(JNS) — Several left-wing Jewish groups have filed a petition to initiate the removal of the Zionist Organization of America from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston in the latest battle being waged between ZOA and liberal members of American Jewish community. The petition — filed by 21 JCRC Council members, including 11 representatives from the Workmen’s Circle, J Street, Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action, Jewish Labor Committee, Keshet, New Israel Fund and Women of Reform Judaism — claims that rhetoric used by ZOA...
(JNS) — As the debate over whether or not Israel should apply sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria intensifies as the proposed July timeline for instituting the decision approaches, a new report by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) says that the extension of Israeli sovereignty in the Jordan Valley would actually “advance” U.S. national security interests. “Our conclusion is that the Jordan Valley is of immense strategic importance to Israel’s security, Jordan’s security and to the stability of the Middle East...
(JNS)-Amid increasing concerns over Israel-related anti-Semitism found on college campuses, the anti-Israel group National Students for Justice in Palestine announced its upcoming national conference at the University of Minnesota from Nov. 1-3. The NSJP says that the conference is titled "Beyond Struggle: From Roots to Branches Towards Liberation," and recognizes the "support for the Palestinian cause is increasing within mainstream politics," noting the inflammatory words and actions of Reps....
(JNS)-Universities have long been one of the toughest environments for pro-Israel students. They have battled stilted curriculums when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and more recently, grappled with on-campus pressure in the face of growing BDS activity. Combined with a general uptick in anti-Semitism, including the deadly shootings in Pittsburgh and Poway, many Jewish and pro-Israel students have increasingly felt under siege. To that end, students from more than 80 campuses gath...
(JNS)—A number of Massachusetts Jewish and pro-Israel groups are condemning several Democratic state lawmakers for participating in an Eid al-Fitr event at the Massachusetts State House that was co-hosted by the Massachusetts branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has a long history of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment. In response to an inquiry from JNS regarding the event, Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston executive director Jeremy Burton responded: “We welcome the efforts and intentions of our pol...
(JNS)—Several international funding platforms are severing ties with the BDS organization Samidoun after its purported ties to a Palestinian terrorist group. According to an email obtained by JNS from the International Legal Forum, PayPal said it would “thoroughly review” Samidoun’s account, and that it will “take further action as appropriate in this case.” Following similar complaints, Samidoun’s accounts with both Donorbox and Plaid have been removed. Yifa Segal, director of the International Legal Forum, told JNS that Samidoun is clearly af...
(JNS)—The local affiliates of Students for Justice in Palestine at Cornell and Binghamton universities in New York state have been promoting images created by a Palestinian terrorist organization on their respective social-media pages. Ahead of an expected BDS vote in late April, Cornell SJP hosted a recent teach-in titled “From Ferguson to Palestine: A Conversation Surrounding Struggle,” featuring an event flyer that appeared to depict a rifle and explicitly mentions the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), according to CAMER...
(JNS)—Over the past decade, the Boston suburb of Newton has been beset by controversy over how the conflict in the Middle East is being taught in its public schools. The concern over anti-Israel bias in the school system began in 2011, when a Newton resident complained to school officials regarding the use of a supplemental text called The Arab World Studies Notebook, which contained “false and defamatory” anti-Israel sentiment. While the school board eventually removed the textbook, accusations and further evidence of anti-Israel bias withi...
(JNS)-The decision last week by the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council to pass a resolution declaring that any member organization supporting the BDS movement could be expelled from the council has generated a wider discussion among Jewish leaders as to where to draw red lines when it comes to Israel. The resolution-adopted overwhelmingly by a vote of 62-13 with eight abstentions-resolves that no member of the JCRC "shall partner with-in particular by co-sponsoring events primarily led...
(JNS)-Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Tuesday that he would consider moving the country's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which would mark a major shift in policy in support of the Jewish state by a world power following the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as its capital by the Trump administration in December. The Australian leader also announced that his country will vote against recognizing the Palestinian Authority as the chair of the G77 bloc in the...
(JNS)-New legislation introduced in Congress recently is seeking to make American aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the U.N. refugee agency that is solely dedicated to the Palestinian refugees, contingent on reform. According to the legislation, introduced by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), the "UNRWA Reform and Refugee Support Act would return UNRWA to its original framework and address this false narrative of an inflated refugee population." The bill seeks to make U.S. funding...
(JNS)—U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin just concluded a bilateral summit in Helsinki, Finland, that proved to be one of the most widely anticipated meetings in years—or, at least, since the meeting with North Korea. While the discussions centered on relations with Europe and the United States, a topic that also took high priority was the ongoing civil war in Syria. Over the last month, the Syrian regime—backed by Russian, Iran, Hezbollah and Shi’a militias—has launched a massive operation in its south to defeat...
