Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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United with Israel does not use the term 'occupied' when referring to areas controlled by Israel since June 1967. US Ambassador David Friedman apparently agrees. Although many call the territories to the west of the Jordan River captured by Israel in the Six Day War the "West Bank," United with Israel prefers to use the historically and geographically correct term 'Judea and Samaria.' 'Occupied' is a loaded political phrase that indicates, just by its usage, that Israel is the occupier and not...
(The Nosher via JTA)-The crockpot has never been my favorite kitchen gadget. I know people love their crockpots and their instant pots, but there have been limited things I have made in a crockpot that I loved, or actually found more convenient. When I am dinner prepping for busy weeks, I typically don't make long-simmering meals that require my attention but rather just throw a bunch of stuff in the oven. But on a recent Friday that was going to be particularly harried-with baby swim class,...
(JTA)-Is it true that Judaism doesn't accept converts? Is it true that Jews have to wash their hands before they pray? Is it true that Jews have historically killed their prophets? These are just a few of the questions Elhanan Miller has heard over the years. A fluent Arabic speaker and former Arab affairs correspondent for the Times of Israel, Miller saw that many Muslims he knew didn't have a clear understanding of Jewish practices and beliefs. So he decided to start teaching Muslims about...
The National Basketball Association set up a new website for the 2018 All-Star Game in Los Angeles, allowing fans to vote for their favorite players. After voting, the fans are asked to identify which country they are from, picking from among a variety of choices that included both Israel and “Palestine—occupied territory.” Several fans discovered the listing when voting this week for Israeli NBA player Omri Casspi. Regev: ‘A gross and blatant interference’ “I view the inclusion of ‘Occupied Palestine’ in the list of countries appearing on yo...
Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system blocked two missiles fired into Israel shortly before noon on Friday. A third landed in a community bordering Gaza. No injuries were reported, but a building was damaged. The Code Red alarms were sounded during a ceremony marking the would-be 24th birthday of IDF soldier Oron Shaul, whose body has been held by Hamas in Gaza since Operation Protective Edge. Before the incident, Oron’s mother told the crowd, “We’re here to mark his birthday. We’ve decided to come here so we can be as close to Oron as p...
Alan M. Kohn, 87, a devoted husband, father, grandfather and NASA engineer for 30 years, died peacefully on Friday, Dec. 22nd at sunset. He was surrounded by his loving family. Alan Kohn was born in Philadelphia, Penn., in the tumultuous year of 1929 on Dec. 28th to the late Betty Giltman and R. Reuben Kohn. He graduated from Penn State University in 1951, where he ran cross-country for the then national championship team. Alan then served in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant and communications officer for the 6th Fleet during the Korean War and...
BIRMINGHAM, England (JTA)-Nine months after announcing that she is creating the world's first vagina museum, Florence Schechter is confident that she has heard every joke on the subject. Schechter, a Jewish comedian and communications professional in her 20s, is preparing to open the museum in Brighton, 50 miles south of London. When the news broke in the spring, it caught the attention of Conan O'Brien, who quipped: It will be "the first museum where you enter through the gift shop." The idea...
Salt and pepper, peanut butter and jelly, Zionism and progressivism. Few question the inherent, irrefutable bond between the first two of those pairs, but civil rights attorney and co-founder of the Zioness Movement, Amanda Berman, argues that the latter is just as natural-and she has several thousand left-leaning Jews with strong Zionist identities backing her up on that sentiment. The four-month-old Zioness Movement was born in a "watershed moment," several months after the inauguration of...
Israeli government OKs $72 Million anti-BDS project (JTA)—Israel’s government has approved a plan setting aside $72 million to fighting the campaign to boycott Israel. The plan would entail the largest monetary investment yet by Israel specifically toward combating the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign. It was announced last week to the cabinet ministers and approved as an executive order after none of them objected, the Ynet news site reported Friday. It calls for setting up a not-for-profit organization whose board will be made up...
Thousands of protesters took to the streets this weekend in cities throughout Iran to demonstrate against the Islamic Republic’s strained economy, corrupt regime and costly military expansion throughout the region, in what has been characterized as the country’s largest wave of anti-government protests since the “Green Revolution” erupted in 2009 following a controversial presidential election. Although experts believe it is too soon to tell how the renewed anti-regime protests will affect Israel, Meir Litvak, director of the Alliance Center...
A new elite IDF infantry unit is about to take up its position along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip. The Haruv (Carob) unit, named after a renowned force that operated in Israel’s southern desert borders in the 1960s and 1970s, was once a regular infantry battalion in the Kfir brigade, focusing on security operations in Judea and Samaria (the territories). Several months ago, the IDF decided to convert this battalion into an elite unit, and to give it the training, weapons, vehicles and high-tech equipment it would need to fight in Gaz...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump's chief Israeli-Palestinian negotiator, has an office just around the corner from the White House. On his computer monitor is a Post-it note, inscribed with a quote from former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo: "At the end of the day, a peace agreement derives its strength from an understanding between peoples, not an accord between governments." It's an appropriate message for Greenblatt, an affable Orthodox Jew who's been tasked by Trump with...
NEW YORK—On Friday, Dec. 22, Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, the Honorable Irwin Cotler, addressed a special session of the United Nations Security Council on International Humanitarian Law and the repatriation of the remains of Hadar Goldin, abducted and murdered by Hamas in violation of a UN-mandated humanitarian ceasefire. Security Council Member nations—including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Russia, France, Italy, Sweden, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia, Senegal and Uruguay—expressed their...