Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA)—A county in Sweden is moving ahead with plans to ban the nonmedical circumcision of boys, its leading elected official said. Per-Ola Mattsson, the commissioner of Blekinge County, said he will bring up a ban on the practice with the county’s health board in February, according to an article published Thursday by the Sydostran Daily. According to the Dagens Medicin medical news site, Mattsson, who is also chairman of the Public Health Board of Blekinge, said he opposes the practice because minors “have no possibility to say no to the s...
European anti-Semitism... Yes. It exists! (What ever happened to "Never Again"? As an example, here are some excerpts from the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) newsletter: HUNGARY-Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister TIBOR NAVRACSICS, and Deputy Foreign Minister ZSOLT NEMET met with Rabbi COOPER and SWC International Relations Director Dr. SHIMON SAMUELS in Budapest and urged them to investigate reports of a growing relationship between Iran and Hungary's anti-Semitic, anti-Roma...
NEW YORK (JTA)-For years, the historic Jewish cemetery was so overgrown with weeds, plagued by toppled headstones, and littered with fallen branches, beer cans and snack-food wrappers that at least a quarter of its graves were impossible to reach. Even now, after a $140,000 cleanup and improved maintenance procedures, the 35,000-grave cemetery relies on the generosity of a non-Jewish volunteer to repair its tombstones, fences and mausoleums. The cemetery isn't in Eastern Europe. It's the...
PARIS (JTA)-To outsiders, they seem like ordinary men striking macho poses for the camera. But there is a dark side to the photos that are appearing with growing frequency in the French media. The men-and less frequently women-are performing the "quenelle," a gesture vaguely similar to the Nazi salute that some believe was invented solely to express hatred of Jews without inviting prosecution. In France, displaying Nazi symbols is illegal if done to cause offense. But the quenelle, in which one...
"We don't consider Iran as an enemy," Israeli President Shimon Peres told CNN's Richard Quest on Sunday at the Globes Israel Business Conference in Tel Aviv. Asked whether he would be willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Peres replied, "Why not? I don't have enemies." "It's not a matter of a person but of a policy," Peres said. "The [goal] is to convert enemies into friends." In August, Rouhani reportedly said of Israel, "After all, in our region there has been a wound for...
By JTA Staff (JTA)—So, you think you know what’s going on in the Jewish world? Test just how closely you followed the year’s news (and remember it) with our end-of year-news quiz. 1. Berlin’s Jewish Museum provoked controversy this year with... a) an exhibit exploring the origins of the swastika as an ancient Hindu symbol b) an exhibit featuring Jews sitting in a glass box answering questions from visitors c) an exhibit featuring selfies taken at Holocaust memorials d) a panel discussion on whether or not Anne Frank would have been a “belieb...
(JNS.org) Brandeis University and Penn State Harrisburg on Wednesday announced they have withdrawn from the American Studies Association (ASA) following the ASA membership’s Dec. 15 vote to endorse a boycott of Israel. “We view the recent vote by the membership to affirm an academic boycott of Israel as a politicization of the discipline and a rebuke to the kind of open inquiry that a scholarly association should foster,” the Brandeis American Studies Department said in a statement. “We remain committed to the discipline of American Studies...
U.S. immigration to Israel drops 13 percent JERUSALEM (JTA)—Immigration to Israel rose slightly in 2013 to 19,200, but that included a significant drop in immigrants from the United States. Last year Israel absorbed 18,940 new immigrants. The most dramatic increase in aliyah came from France, with 3,120 immigrants, a 63 percent increase over the previous year. The Jewish Agency for Israel credited its own programs to introduce French young people to Israel for the rise. Israel’s Ministry of Immigration and Absorption and the Jewish Agency are...
The security situation in Israel has grown increasingly tense of late, with a spike in terror attacks carried out on numerous fronts, and through various means, by both recognized terror groups and presumed “lone wolf” assailants. But such developments don’t rattle VADM (ret.) Yedidia Yaari. “I sleep well because I know we (Israelis) have the capability to outsmart our enemies in every respect,” says Yaari—president and CEO of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., Israel’s second-largest government owned defense company—in an interview with...
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA)-On a busy street near the Dutch Parliament, three white musicians in blackface regale passersby with holiday tunes about the Dutch Santa Claus, Sinterklaas, and his slave, Black Pete. Many native Dutchmen view dressing up as Black Pete in December as a venerable tradition, but others consider it a racist affront to victims of slavery. With Holland marking the 150th anniversary of abolition this year, the controversy over Black Pete has reached new heights. Hundreds...
(JNS.org) Canada has called on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to dismiss its special investigator, Richard Falk, over a recent statement accusing Israel of having “genocidal intentions” against the Palestinians in an interview on the Russia Today (RT) television network. “When you target a group, an ethnic group and inflict this kind of punishment upon them, you are in effect nurturing a kind of criminal intention that is genocidal,” Falk told RT. Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird called on the U.N. to dismiss Falk immediate...
