Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — As Lebanon’s citizens deal with a collapsing economy and a paralyzed government, murmurings of dissatisfaction with Hezbollah, Iran’s terror proxy in Beirut, have begun to surface. But experts say it is unrealistic to believe Hezbollah’s iron grip on the country will loosen. These simmering tensions were expressed even more publicly in a televised speech made by Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Dec. 27, when he called for a “national dialogue” to confront the country’s political and social issues. Aoun warned that Lebanon was ...
(JNS) — A new procedure through which Sephardic Jews of Portuguese origin can apply for Portuguese citizenship is expected to eliminate cumbersome paperwork by going digital. Portugal has taken an active role in fostering Jewish life since 2015, and part of this effort included passing a law granting Portuguese nationality to Jews of families from traditional Sephardic communities whose ancestors had been expelled in the 15th century. This move came as Portugal seeks to atone for what became known as the Inquisition. Chelsea FC soccer team o...
After US pushback, Israel is reportedly reviewing its close ties with China By Jordyn Haime (JTA) — Israel has pledged to keep the Biden administration in the loop on major deals with China and would reconsider those deals if the United States raises opposition, Haaretz reported on Monday. Both the Biden administration and the Trump administration have raised concerns about growing ties between Israel and China as the latter’s relationships with the United States and European countries have soured. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sul...
(JTA) — About 150,000 Jewish victims of Nazi persecution are set to receive emergency funding of approximately $1,400 per person from Germany in the coming days, according to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. The funds, totaling about $200 million and referred to as the Supplemental Hardship Fund Payment, were negotiated in 2020 and originally planned to be distributed in two payments by the end of 2022. The recipients of the Supplemental Hardship Fund Payment are predominantly Russian speakers who had to flee the N...
(JNS) — As tributes from across the globe poured in earlier this week following the passing of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, many Israel supporters note the paradox of a man they say fought a heroic battle against apartheid in South Africa, then invented it in Israel. Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, passed away at the age of 90 on Sunday. “I think it would be a mistake to lionize him. On the one hand, he fought apartheid in South Africa, and on the other hand, he fought the right of Jewish people to national self-...
Amar’e Stoudemire says he’s ready for a ‘shidduch’ and to remarry By Shira Hanau (JTA) — Amar’e Stoudemire told his Instagram followers recently that he’s looking for a new partner, saying he’s ready for a “shidduch.” “Shidduch” dating, or dates set up by a matchmaker, is a common way for Orthodox Jews to meet their future spouses. Stoudemire, who has played for the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns, converted to Judaism while living in Israel in August 2020. From 2016 to 2019, he played for the Israeli team Hapoel Jerusalem and later for...
(JNS) - Ukrainian, Israeli, American and European leaders joined together online on Dec. 15-16 for the third-annual Kyiv Jewish Forum to discuss the historic relations between the Jewish and Ukrainian peoples, the rise of global antisemitism and the looming threats to both nations. "We know what it's like not to have our own state," said Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, referring to both Ukrainians and Jews. "We know what it means to defend one's own state and land with weapons in hand...
(JTA) — A Muslim civil rights leader who stirred outrage when she said “polite Zionists” like Jewish federations “are not your friends” continued her critique of “Zionists” as she announced that she is going on a sabbatical. “I am still in the middle of a prolonged Zionist onslaught,” wrote Zahra Billoo, director of the San Francisco office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in a Facebook post on Sunday. She added that she believes there is an “Islamophobic, pro-Israel campaign” to “place moles in our organization and others...
(JTA) — The U.S. State Department has included extensive reporting on West Bank settler attacks on Palestinians in its annual terrorism report, a sign of how seriously the Biden administration is treating the phenomenon. The 2020 report on terrorist violence, released Thursday, includes three paragraphs reporting settler violence, the most it has included in years. The attacks have become a point of contention between the Biden administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, disrupting efforts by both sides to k...
DUBAI — As dozens of Jewish organizations plan delegations to the United Arab Emirates following the signing of the Abraham Accords, Visions of Abraham, a nonprofit working to create and promote educational initiatives relating to interfaith programming between Muslims and Jews, has launched. The group aims to provide an in-depth look at the impact of the Abraham Accords. The organization specializes in creating bespoke and immersive tours of the UAE and its Jewish community. UJA-Federation of New York and the Joint Distribution Committee r...
BERLIN (JTA) - A German Protestant minister has handed over segments of a long lost Torah scroll to the city of Görlitz in southeast Germany, 83 years after his father, a town policeman, came into possession of them. While it is not unheard of for German non-Jews to turn over religious objects that have been lost or hidden since the Nazi period, the Torah scroll fragments took an unusually circuitous journey before coming to light last week. The Torah had not been seen since Kristallnacht, the...
( JTA ) - Gabriel Boric, a 35-year-old left-wing lawmaker who has been sharply critical of Israel and Chilean Jews who support it, was elected president of Chile in a landslide victory this weekend. Boric, who came to fame as a student leader, won with 56 percent of the vote, 12 points over his conservative rival, José Antonio Kast, a right-wing pro-Israel politician. The election left many Chilean Jews feeling uneasy because they had to choose between Boric, who has encouraged Chilean Jews to l...
Israel’s controversial Oscar submission gets snubbed on the 2022 Academy shortlist By Tom Tugend LOS ANGELES (JTA) — There was no holiday cheer for Israel’s filmmakers in the shortlists for the 2022 Academy Awards. The country’s official submission for this year’s Best International Feature Oscar, “Let It Be Morning,” was not among the 15 entries that made the cut in the category, despite being helmed by a pedigreed director (Eran Kolirin, of “The Band’s Visit” fame) and attracting global attention for its all-Palestinian cast. The movie, wh...
(JTA) - A Swiss-Jewish artist has asked the Zurich Art Museum to return her paintings due to concerns that the museum features works bought for below-market prices from Jewish refugees in dire circumstances in the years leading up to and during the Holocaust. Miriam Cahn, 72, made her wishes known publicly this week, the Tachles Swiss-Jewish newspaper reported. "I no longer want to be represented at the Zurich Art Museum and would like to withdraw all of my work from it. I will buy them back at...
(JNS) — As many as 250 Britons stood outside of the headquarters of the publicly funded British Broadcasting Corporation in London on Monday night to demand that it take accountability for anti-Jewish coverage on the network. There, they chanted “BBC, where the proof? BBC, tell the truth” in response to an on-air report during Chanukah about an attack on a bus full of Jewish teens in Central London. In its coverage of the event, according to Campaign Against Antisemitism, the BCC reported that...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed at his private palace in Abu Dhabi on Monday in the first official visit by an Israeli premier to the United Arab Emirates. The growing economic ties between their two countries were on the official agenda, though analysts tell JNS that behind the scenes the key topic of Iran was likely front and center. The optics couldn’t have been better for Bennett. Upon arrival on Sunday, he was greeted by an honor guard and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zay...
UK lawmaker apologizes for evoking Nazi Germany in debate over COVID measures By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA) — A lawmaker from the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party apologized for evoking Nazi Germany while criticizing restrictive measures meant to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Marcus Fysh, a former business executive who entered parliament in 2015 as a representative of the Yeovil constituency in western Britain, made the apology in an op-ed published Monday in the Jewish Chronicle. “I am sorry that during debate about the curre...
German broadcaster will probe antisemitism allegations against Arabic-language staff By Asaf Shalev (JTA) — A German government-owned news broadcaster has launched an investigation into a report that four of its employees and one freelancer made social media comments that downplay the Holocaust and promote antisemitism. The five individuals, members of Deutsche Welle’s Arabic service, are being suspended from work until the investigation is concluded, the news service announced on Friday. Leading the investigation will be two independent exp...
The Netherlands’ far-Left BIJ1 party has called for the cancelation of the country’s annual Holocaust commemoration ceremony, calling the event “inherently racist,” according to a Dutch report picked up by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “The BIJ1 party, which defines itself as devoted to ‘antiracism and decolonialization’ and advocates for ‘official apologies for slavery and colonial occupation and bearing of the legal consequences,’ made the call in a draft of its program in the March 2022 municipal elections in Amsterdam, the news site Jonet....
(JNS) — European diplomats said on Tuesday that if Iran does not demonstrate seriousness in nuclear negotiations with world powers this week, there will be a problem. Andrea Stricker, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and an expert on the Iran nuclear program, told JNS that “if Iran comes to talks with maximalist demands for sanctions relief and refuses to resume discussing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the P5+1 will quickly realize that Tehran’s game is one of extortion, and they could pivot to a unite...
(JTA) — After an outcry and a rebuke from the University of Toronto president, the student union at a satellite campus modified a proposed ban on kosher foods in any way affiliated with Israel, but a campus Jewish campus group said the change made matters worse. The board of directors of the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus Student Union convened for an emergency meeting Dec. 1 to address the outcry after a Nov. 24 resolution affirming the union’s boycott, divestment and sanctions policy regarding Israel placed restrictions on kos...
MUNICH (JTA) — Three political parties in Germany presented a coalition agreement which reiterated commitments to ensure Israel’s security and fight antisemitism and, for the first time, also pledged to promote Jewish life. The agreement, whose main focus is addressing climate change, was presented Wednesday by the coalition parties, which include the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the Free Democratic Party and the Greens, in Berlin. The coalition agreement determines the division of ministerial positions and major policy themes and mar...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday that his government’s goal is to “utilize the window of opportunity” between rounds of the nuclear talks in Vienna to tell Washington that the time has come for a “different toolkit” against Iran’s progress in uranium enrichment. The Islamic Republic “must start paying for its violations,” said Bennett at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, according to a statement released by his office. “The goal of the Iranian regime is the lifting of sanctions,” he said, adding, “For th...
(JNS) — United Kingdom’s Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that she is seeking to declare the entire Hamas organization as a terrorist group. While the military wing of Hamas, known as the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, is currently declared a terror group by the United Kingdom, its political wing is not. Patel said that parliament will add the designation next week, which Jewish groups have long called for. Under U.K. law, it is a criminal offense to belong to or invite support for a proscribed organization or wear clothing which could be...
(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Speaking to a group of college students, Rep. Jamaal Bowman expressed no regret about taking a recent trip to Israel and the West Bank with the liberal pro-Israel group J Street, despite intense backlash from his socialist allies. He did, however, have harsh words for Israel’s government. “I left less optimistic about a two-state solution because of the reality on the ground,” he said in the question-and-answer session Monday. “Of course, I still believe in it and working toward making it happen but I think the...
