Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) – For many Britons, Boris Johnson's tenure as prime minister will have been defined by scandals like the one that forced him to resign on Thursday. For Jewish Britons, the memories might well include a broken menorah. Elected in 2019, the Conservative Party leader announced Thursday that he would step down after his cabinet collapsed amid his latest scandal - the way Johnson handled the case of a senior official who had been accused of sexual abuse. Johnson has also come under criticism f...
(JTA) — Ben & Jerry’s is not letting go of its West Bank pullout goal without a fight — with its parent company. The iconic ice cream brand has filed a lawsuit against Unilever over its decision last week to sell the Israeli arm of the business to Israel-based franchise, American Quality Products, Ltd., which will continue to sell Ben & Jerry’s in the West Bank. Ben & Jerry’s says that Unilever’s decision was made without the brand’s board’s consent, and wrote in a statement on Tuesday that stopping the sale is necessary to protect “the social...
(JTA) — More than four months into its devastating war against Russia, Ukraine is sending a new message to the world’s Jews: Don’t come here for Rosh Hashanah. Tens of thousands of Jews flood into Uman, a central city that is home to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, a 18th-century Jewish luminary, annually for the Jewish new year. Even in the first year of the pandemic, when global travel ground to a halt and the gathering was officially banned, Jewish pilgrims sought to make their way to Uman. This year, their security cannot be guara...
(JTA) - After nearly a year of legal and financial battles, Ben & Jerry's will continue to be made and sold in Israel and the West Bank, as its parent company Unilever announced Tuesday it had reached an agreement with its current Israeli licensee to assume ownership of the brand in the region. Under the terms of the new agreement, Unilever is selling its Israel business interest in the ice cream maker to Israel-based American Quality Products, Ltd., which has owned Ben & Jerry's Israel factorie...
BUDAPEST (JTA) — For the last few months, a lakeside palace linked to a major political scandal in Hungary has been home to Jewish refugees from Ukraine. Just before Passover, six weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Hungarian government signed off on an effort to makes the palace in Balatonőszöd, a resort town on the the lakes of Lake Balaton some 80 miles away from Budapest, kosher for the holiday. Now, the palace will be renovated to accommodate at least 664 people with a kosher kitchen able to feed hundreds more daily, according to a s...
(JTA) — The head of the Jewish Community of Porto, Portugal said that a criminal investigation stemming from the organization’s role in vetting Jews with Sephardic ancestry for Portuguese citizenship amounts to antisemitic persecution by officials. In an unusually harsh letter to lawmakers last week, Gabriel Senderowicz said the probe was perpetrating a “Holocaust against families.” And in a sign of splits among the country’s Jews, a former leader of the Jewish community of Lisbon dismissed Senderowicz’s allegations as baseless and “absurd.” S...
Kosher certification agency sues JetBlue, saying they lied about a kosher snack By Jackie Hajdenberg (JTA) — One of the United States’ largest kosher certifying agencies alleges that JetBlue airlines sold a snack it falsely claimed was certified as kosher. In a lawsuit filed last Thursday, Kof-K said JetBlue put the agency’s hechsher, or rabbinical approval symbol, on an artichoke snack that the agency never certified as kosher. The company that makes the artichoke snack, Elma Farms, was not named in the lawsuit. A JetBlue spokesperson told Reu...
(JTA) - The Jewish Agency's nominating committee recommended Doron Almog, a storied retired general and a longtime advocate for people with disabilities, to lead the body that bridges Israel and the Jewish Diaspora. The nomination Thursday of Almog, 71, now goes to the Jewish Agency's Board of Governors, where it is all but assured of approval. The nomination follows an extended period of consideration since May 2021, when the last chairman of the agency, Isaac Herzog, announced his successful...
(JNS) — Two Biden administration nominees for top posts related to the Middle East came under fire for alleged anti-Israel bias by Senate Republicans in their confirmation hearing on Thursday. The hearing, held in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, comes at a critical time as U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Israel and Saudi Arabia next month while the United States is struggling to repair its frayed relationship with the Arab kingdom amid skyrocketing gas prices. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took issue with Tamara Cofman W...
(JTA) — The global Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement targeting Israel has disavowed a controversial website mapping Boston-area Jewish groups a day after lawmakers urged a federal investigation of the project’s potential to be used by extremist groups. The announcement by the BDS movement on Wednesday aimed to distance the group from the Mapping Project, an anonymous collective of Boston-area pro-Palestinian activists. The project lists the names and addresses of Massachusetts Jewish groups, including schools, community funds and syn...
(JTA) — In a live streamed address to students, faculty and staff at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Israel to join the network of countries around the world that have placed sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. “We are grateful to your great nation. But we would like to also get support from your government,” Zelensky said. “Tell me, how can you not help the victim of such aggression?” In his address, Zelensky recognized the connected histories of Ukraine and Israel, noting the Ukrai...
From the American Jewish Committee, a global Jewish advocacy organization A new website that claims to show the ties between various Massachusetts institutions and “support for the colonization of Palestine” has raised alarms over its dangerous targeting of the Jewish community. The map, published earlier this month by anonymous supporters of the BDS movement, is being promoted by anti-Israel groups such as Boston BDS and the left-wing nonprofit Massachusetts Peace Action. It claims to illustrate organizations and institutions in Mas...
(JTA) — Just under half of all Democratic senators are seeking the “direct involvement” of the United States in the investigation of the death of a Palestinian journalist who was shot over a month ago while covering an Israeli raid on a West Bank refugee camp. Twenty-four senators signed a letter sent to President Biden Thursday, three weeks prior to his first scheduled state visit to Israel. It is the largest action yet from U.S. lawmakers seeking an independent resolution to the May 11 killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh...
Eli Rosenbaum to head DOJ team investigating war crimes in Ukraine By Madeline Fixler (JTA) — Eli Rosenbaum, a Justice Department veteran known for his work tracking and deporting former Nazis residing in the United States, will lead a team working to identify and prosecute people responsible for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment in a statement on Tuesday, while in Ukraine. “There is no hiding place for war criminals. The U.S. Justice Department will pursue every avenue of acc...
(JNS) — U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Israel on July 13. Analysts tell JNS that among the key topics to be discussed will be the Iran threat; a security alliance between Israel and Gulf states; the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem; the poor health of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas; Russia-Syria-Ukraine; and a new global “I2U2” coalition involving India. The Iranian threat Negotiations for a new nuclear deal with Iran have been on the ropes since April when the Islamic Republic said it would not return to talks in Vienna...
(JNS) - The Stuttgart Administrative Court recently ruled that calls to single out the Jewish state for boycott, divestment and sanctions do not violate Germany's laws against hate speech and are protected, sparking outrage from critics that the decision turns anti-Semitism into a socially and politically correct view. "It is probably the first time in the history of the Federal Republic that a court has expressly declared 'anti-Semitic views' to be a legally protected area of 'freedom of opin...
(JNS) — Heads of major Jewish organizations, led by the Jewish Agency for Israel, delivered a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett calling on the Israeli government to designate those killed in anti-Semitic incidents outside of Israel as official victims of terror. The letter urges the prime minister to commemorate these victims in state ceremonies, as they are an “integral part of national memory.” The request follows an initial appeal by Yaakov Hagoel, the Jewish Agency’s acting chairman of the executive and chairman of the Wor...
(JNS) — While an official U.N. Commission of Inquiry seeks Israel’s diplomatic isolation, 21 nations came out in support of the Jewish state on Monday, expressing concern about the commission’s uncommonly broad mandate and the U.N. Human Rights Council’s irregular targeting of Israel. In Geneva, the three members of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry—all of whom have a history of anti-Israel activity and rhetoric—addressed the Human Rights Council and the press in the wake of their first report released last week. On Tuesday, commission...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Joe Biden will visit Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia next month in a visit that will emphasize reestablishing U.S. ties with the Palestinians. The Biden administration on Tuesday morning posted the dates for Biden’s Middle East tour, July 13 to 16, after weeks of reporting that such a trip would take place this summer. The visit to Saudi Arabia will include attending a summit of the “GCC+3,” a body that brings together the Gulf Cooperation Council, the umbrella for Gulf Arab states, plus Egypt, Iraq and Jorda...
Israel urges citizens not to travel to Istanbul citing Iranian terrorist threat By Ron Kampeas (JTA) — Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid urged Israelis not to travel to Istanbul, saying that Israeli and Turkish authorities have recently thwarted Iranian-backed terrorist attacks. “In recent weeks, Israeli security services, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Prime Minister’s Office have put tremendous effort into saving Israeli lives, some of whom have returned to Israel and are walking among us without knowing their lives were saved...
(JNS) — The Stuttgart Administrative Court recently ruled that calls to single out the Jewish state for boycott, divestment and sanctions do not violate Germany’s laws against hate speech and are protected, sparking outrage from critics that the decision turns anti-Semitism into a socially and politically correct view. “It is probably the first time in the history of the Federal Republic that a court has expressly declared ‘anti-Semitic views’ to be a legally protected area of ‘freedom of opinion,’” Henryk M. Broder, a leading expert on G...
Ben & Jerry's is requiring all new employees to watch four videos about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, all of which appear to be biased against the Jewish state, the Jewish Insider reported. The videos are part of the company's "Scooper Series: Social Mission" concerning the conflict as well as racism in the U.S., an employee told the Jewish Insider. Featured in one of the videos is anti-Israel activist Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch's Israel and Palestine director. Shakir, a BDS promoter,...
(JTA) - Amid controversies concerning the Vatican's Holocaust-era record, Pope Francis and the head of Israel's state museum on the Holocaust, Yad Vashem, met for a first-of-its-kind talk. Yad Vashem Director Dani Dayan met with the pope Thursday at his office in the Vatican. During their 30-minute talk, they spoke about ways to "bolster collaborative activities" in areas of "Holocaust remembrance, education and documentation, and to discuss efforts to fight antisemitism and racism worldwide,"...
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas failed to show up for a press conference in Ramallah on Wednesday morning, where he was expected to make a public appearance in order to dispel rumors that he is dead or very ill. Although the reports cannot be independently confirmed, the Palestinian street is buzzing with rumors that the wildly unpopular octogenarian, whom the vast majority of his constituents believe should resign, is in poor health. Last week, Arabic-language media reported that...
(JNS) — If the West does not stop Iran’s nuclear program in its tracks then the mullahs will soon get the bomb, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told The Telegraph in an interview on June 11. So, where do negotiations stand and how close is Iran to crossing the nuclear threshold? In March, efforts to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, more commonly referred to as the Iran nuclear deal—from which the Trump administration withdrew in 2018—appeared within reach. “Our view is that we are close. We have been close for some time...
