Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 76 - 97 of 97
Iranian Supreme Leader the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is known for his anti-Zionist rhetoric, has issued perhaps his most detailed tirade to date in a Twitter post titled "9 key questions about the elimination of Israel." "Why should & how can #Israel be eliminated? Ayatollah Khamenei's answer to 9 key questions. #HandsOffAlAqsa," read the introduction to Khamenei's tweet, posted Saturday, Nov. 8. The hashtag #HandsOffAlAqsa referred to the recent tensions between Arabs and Jews at the Temple...
As world leaders converged on New York City for the 69th United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to remind them that the threats Israel faces today could be their own problems tomorrow. "Israel is fighting a fanaticism today that your countries might be facing tomorrow," Netanyahu said. In a wide-ranging speech to the 193-member world body that included not only a focus on Islamic terrorism but also on a nuclear Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,...
Following Israel's Operation Protective Edge this summer, Hamas continues to control the Gaza Strip and openly considers any truce with Israel as a time to re-arm for the next conflict. Across Israel's northern border, Hezbollah has been fighting to preserve the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but still poses a danger to the Jewish state. Meanwhile, the Islamic State has exploded across Iraq and Syria in a spectacle of unprecedented brutality that could one day also knock on...
WASHINGTON, DC-With the conflict in Israel in their hearts and on their minds, thousands of evangelical Christians converged on Washington, DC, from July 21-22 to flex their collective muscles for the Jewish state as part of the annual Christians United for Israel (CUFI) summit. "Our joy is consistently interrupted by news from Israel. But it is good to be together with loved ones at a sad time. I see the energy more than ever, that we have to speak out and be a voice for Israel," David Brog,...
With the launch of the Israeli army's Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, much of the public's attention has appropriately focused on Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group behind the June 12 abduction and murder of three Jewish teens and more recently the escalation of rocket fire on Israel. But the threats the Jewish state faces from Gaza may not be as clear-cut as they seem. While Hamas is still extremely deadly, it has seen a weakening of its grip on the coastal enclave over the past few...
Emerging from the chaos of the Syrian civil war, the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) terrorist group has gained the world’s attention for its brutal medieval-style Islamic justice and its swift victories in Iraq, threatening to overrun the weak U.S.-backed government there. But now ISIS is also setting its sights on Jordan, threatening to drag Israel into the global jihadist conflict. “They are a vicious and brutal group, and have even done some things that al-Qaeda thought were unwise,” Elliot Abrams, who served as deputy natio...
For most Westerners, Iraq is a foreboding and dangerous place that is filled with extremists and daily violence. Yet as little as 75 years ago Iraq was a vibrant country that was home to many different ethnic and religious minorities, including large Jewish and Christian populations. But the latest round of violence spearheaded by the jihadist terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which is driving through the heart of Iraq to the capital of Baghdad and inflicting...
In what many observers will see as the de facto expression of mainstream U.S. Jewry's outlook on J Street, members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations voted 22-17 (with three abstentions) to reject the membership application of the self-labeled "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby. J Street secured the votes of only about a third of the Conference's 50 members. The 42 Conference members in attendance in New York exceeded the 75-percent quorum needed to hold the vote,...
After facing growing pressure from faculty members, students, and an outside Muslim advocacy group, Brandeis University said that it is rescinding its decision to award an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a women's rights activist and critic of Islam, over her "past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University's core values." But in light of the school's past decisions to honor American playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner and South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, who have both...
In a throwback to the golden age of cinema, Hollywood has declared 2014 the "Year of the Bible." From Ridley Scott's "Exodus" starring Christian Bale as Moses, to Russell Crowe playing Noah, Hollywood is gambling on new innovations in technology and star power to revisit some of the most popular stories ever told. "It's definitely a throwback to the 1950s and early '60s," Dr. Stephen J. Whitfield, an American Studies professor at Brandeis University, told JNS.org. Starting with "The Robe" in...
While international attention continues to focus on the Iranian nuclear program and diplomatic efforts to address it, the Israeli Navy's March 5 interception of an Iranian ship full of Syrian-made missiles bound for Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza sheds new light on other dimensions of the Islamic Republic's strategy. "The nuclear program is the fast mover in international discussions, but the delivery capabilities are extremely important," Ilan Berman, vice president of the American...
With the Middle East in turmoil, Europe moving backwards, and the United States fatigued from years of war and recession, Canada has emerged as a staunch supporter of Israel. At a time when Israel is routinely singled out for condemnation, Canada has been at the forefront of defending Israel and criticizing its enemies. This outspokenness comes amid the growing economic and political clout of Canada, a country that is traditionally accustomed to keeping a low profile internationally. While...
NEW YORK-With more than 1.6 million members, Pastor John Hagee's Christians United For Israel (CUFI) has become a powerful force in pro-Israel advocacy in American politics. Additionally, his humanitarian work-including the donation of more than $80 million to Israeli charities-has earned him growing praise from the Jewish community. But despite the efforts of Hagee, who is arguably the face of Christian Zionism today, many Jews remain skeptical of Evangelical support for Israel. That...
Last Monday, Israel named the first 26 of the 104 Palestinian terrorist prisoners that it agreed to release as a goodwill gesture for the restarting of Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations. But while the Palestinian terrorists will initially earn their freedom in this deal, efforts are under way in the U.S. to bring about the further prosecution of those terrorists whose attacks harmed American citizens in Israel. With the support of the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), a pro-Israel think tank and policy center in Washington, D.C.,...
As newly elected leaders of their respective Christian faiths, Pope Francis I and Egypt’s Coptic Pope Tawadros II face a wide array of internal and external challenges. One presides over a global church of 1.2 billion, the other a smaller Mideast church of 12-18 million. But a primary challenge for both is the fate of Middle East Christianity, which is on the verge of extinction in the region where the religion was born. Early in their papacies, both Pope Francis and Pope Tawadros have shown a willingness to break from convention and c...
Widespread protests in Turkey are threatening the decade-long rule of Islamist Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, raising questions over his ambitions to transform his country. The protests, which began in Istanbul’s famous Taksim Square over government plans to turn nearby Gezi park into a shopping mall modeled after Ottoman-era army barracks, have turned into a widespread rebuke of Erdogan’s Islamist rule, spreading to several other major Turkish cities such as Ankara and Izmir as...
Bordering the attention-grabbing countries of Israel, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Jordan is sometimes overlooked by the media and by policy experts because of its peace with Israel, its close alliance with the United States, and its relatively liberal socio-economic system. Underneath this façade of stability, however, is a country plagued by a number of economic and social issues that threaten to plunge Jordan into the chaos of the “Arab Spring” upheavals. “If there is to be another countr...
On May 21, Iran’s Guardian Council released a list of “approved” candidates for the upcoming June 14 presidential election. As expected, the list of eight candidates included a number of hardliners loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, crushing any hope that Iran’s next president would bring about new policies that would end the nuclear standoff with the West, economic sanctions and domestic political repression. Nevertheless, many in the West are interested in the upcoming election. The last election in 2009 launched major protest...
In an unprecedented move, the head of Egypt’s 2,000-year-old Coptic Christian Church, Pope Tawadros II, recently slammed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi for what he called a weak response to violence that left several Christians dead and its religious institutions violated. Pope Tawadros’s statements come at a time of increasing political deadlock and the threat of economic collapse in Egypt. Halim Meawad, co-founder of Coptic Solidarity, a U.S.-based international Coptic Christian human rights organization, told JNS.org that Pope Taw...
Ben, an Israel Defense Forces reservist, recalls when his unit took up a position to sleep inside a beat-up old Volkswagen van outside a Palestinian village. Hearing a knock on their van’s door, and preparing for the worst, the soldiers jumped up with their guns ready—only to discover it was a “little old Palestinian grandma.” Telling personal stories such as that one, which Ben recently recounted at Boston University (BU), helps put a human face on Israeli soldiers who are often condemn...
With the civil war raging in Syria and Iran’s continued pursuit of its suspected nuclear weapons program, the Hezbollah terrorist group stands as a bridge to those growing threats facing Israel. The Lebanese-based Shi’a terror organization has become one of the most powerful paramilitary organizations in the Middle East. Amid an international effort to stem Hezbollah’s influence and operations, the European Union (EU) continues to pose an obstacle to the unity of that effort through its refus...
In millions of Jewish homes across the world each Passover, a special cup of wine is poured and the door is opened for Elijah the prophet. But how did this tradition start? Who is the prophet Elijah and how can modern Jews relate to this Biblical figure? “Passover is the season of redemption and the Prophet Elijah is seen as a redemptive figure in Judaism. The book of Malachi describes how Elijah will return and announce the coming of the Messiah and redeem his people,” Dr. Marc Shapiro, who...
