Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1429 - 1453 of 1886
(JTA)—North Carolina lawmakers passed a bill that would bar the state from doing business with companies that boycott Israel. Both houses of the General Assembly passed the bill last week. Gov. Roy Cooper must sign the measure before it becomes law. It passed the state House of Representatives by a vote of 96-19 and the state Senate by a vote of 45-3. Under the legislation, state institutions must stop contracts with companies that boycott companies or products made in Israel. The bill also prohibits future work with such companies. North C... Full story
(JTA)-The Great Jewish Revolt of 2017. The Bar Kotel Rebellion. The Diaspora Strikes Back. Whatever you call it, last week's clash between American Jewish leaders and the Netanyahu government felt louder, angrier and more significant than previous clashes over pluralism in Israel. That may be because it wasn't only about pluralism. That's not to say that pluralism isn't important in its own right. The non-Orthodox Jewish groups who fought hard for a space and a say at the Western Wall-only to se... Full story
Leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Stephen M. Greenberg, Chairman and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, wrote to the parents of the late Otto Warmbier, who tragically died shortly after being returned to the U.S following an extended period of incarceration in the notorious North Korean jails. In their letter to the Warmbiers, the leaders said "We want you know that our thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time. The governm... Full story
(JNS.org) Students from San Francisco State University and members of the local Jewish community filed a lawsuit this week, asserting the university has an extensive history of fomenting discrimination against Jewish students. The suit alleges that SFSU and its administrators “knowingly fostered this [anti-Semitic] discrimination and hostile environment, which has been marked by violent threats to the safety of Jewish students on campus.” The California school embraced and systematically supported “anti-Jewish hostility,” with its support... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-The vast majority of Reform and Conservative rabbis affiliate as Democrats, according to a new study. The study, published Sunday by Yale University, found that more than 80 percent of Reform rabbis, and about 70 percent of Conservative rabbis, affiliate as Democrats. Both were among the top five most Democratic clergy of the Jewish and Christian denominations in the United States, with Reform rabbis topping the list. Among Orthodox rabbis, nearly 40 percent identify as Democrats... Full story
In a stirring speech at Brandeis University's 66th Commencement on Sunday, May 21, Rosalie Silberman Abella, the first Jewish woman named to the Canadian Supreme Court, reminded graduates of the role they have to play in protecting those who are vulnerable in the world: "Remember the three lessons we were supposed to have learned from the concentration camps of Europe: Indifference is injustice's incubator; it's not just what you stand for, it's what you stand up for; and we can never forget... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—“Voluntary dues” may sound like an oxymoron, but the idea may soon be coming to a synagogue near you. According to a new study by the UJA-Federation of New York, the number of non-Orthodox synagogues nationwide that have eliminated fixed annual dues has more than doubled in the past two years. Instead of charging a set membership fee, these synagogues are telling congregants to pay what they want—and they’re succeeding. The nearly 60 Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist synagogues that have stopped charging mandatory... Full story
WASHINGTON—Prominent Democrats and major U.S. Jewish organizations are joining President Donald Trump in calling on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to stop making payments to imprisoned terrorists and their families. Trump raised the issued during his May 3 meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House, and also referred to it in his May 22 press conference with Abbas in Bethlehem, warning that terrorists should not be “tolerated, funded or rewarded.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) recently intro... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—It’s not quite schadenfreude, but some Jewish organizational officials are sighing in relief at President Donald Trump’s cascade of domestic woes, saying it may present opportunities for their relatively liberal agenda. Domestically, some Jewish groups are welcoming the prospect that scandals and distractions besieging the White House could delay—if not scuttle—what they fear as radical changes in immigration, education and health care. On foreign policy, a president wounded by domestic scandal is working all the harder to... Full story
By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA)—Bill Clinton consulted with folks who came up with him in Arkansas, George W. Bush preferred Texan veterans of his family’s hard-fought political battles and Barack Obama had his Chicago peeps. Who does the first billionaire president go to when he wants real-deal advice? Other billionaires, naturally. Much has been made of how President Donald Trump has stacked his Cabinet with billionaires, and how he takes off-campus advice from investor Carl Icahn, fellow real estate developer Tom Barrack and media mog... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-"You make us better," James Comey told the Anti-Defamation League in his final public speech as FBI director. Judging from the applause in the conference room at the venerable Mayflower Hotel here, the feeling was mutual. Mired in investigations of the scandals of 2016 (Hillary Clinton's relationship with her email server) and 2017 (Donald Trump's relationship with Russia), not a lot of love ended up being lost between the FBI director and either party. Democrats called for... Full story
(JTA)—The student government at Montclair State University reportedly voted down a resolution calling on the school to boycott Israel. The measure was defeated April 26 by a vote of 11-1, with six abstentions. An earlier survey aimed at gauging student support for the measure found that 64 percent of students at the New Jersey school were opposed. The defeat of the resolution, which was initiated by the university’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, was commended by the pro-Israel group StandWithUs, which is active on college cam...
(JTA)—All 100 members of the U.S. Senate signed a letter to the leader of the United Nations urging a comprehensive effort to remedy the organization’s “anti-Israel agenda.” The letter, which was sent April 27 to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, praised his recent decision to disavow an anti-Israel report from the U.N.’s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia and identified four specific areas where further action could be taken to rectify the “unacceptable” treatment of Israel at the world body. The senators urged Guterres to elimi... Full story
(JTA)—The Center for Jewish Life at Princeton University denied space to the local chapter of J Street U for an exhibition created by the left-wing Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence. The J Street U chapter decided to go forward with the exhibit, to be held Tuesday and, in another campus space, despite the possibility of causing a rift with the Center for Jewish Life, or CJL, which is affiliated with Hillel International, the Daily Princetonian student newspaper reported. “We do not take this step lightly,” J Street U Princeton wrote in a state... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-President Donald Trump got the memo on the Holocaust and the Jews. In a barrage of statements this week from the president and his aides, the Trump administration wants you to know, he gets it, he really gets it: The Holocaust describes a genocide committed only against one people, the Jews. It's a radical departure from the first days of the Trump administration, when a statement marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day omitted any mention of Jews. That was made worse,... Full story
Leading American Jewish groups were quick to praise President Donald Trump’s forthright condemnation of anti-Semitism during a Holocaust commemoration speech. Speaking on behalf of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Stephen Greenberg, its chairman and Malcolm Hoenlein, its executive vice chairman/CEO, noted appreciatively that Trump “clearly and forcefully condemned all forms of anti-Semitism, calling out Holocaust denial, threats to Israel’s existence, anti-Semitic discourse and rhetoric and attacks on Jewis... Full story
(JTA)-Anti-Semitic incidents in the United States soared 86 percent in the first three months of 2017 after rising by more than one-third in 2016, according to the Anti-Defamation League. There has been a massive increase in harassment of American Jews, largely since November, and at least 34 incidents linked to the presidential election that month, the ADL said Monday in its annual audit of anti-Semitic incidents. This year has seen preliminary reports of 541 anti-Semitic incidents through... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The Texas House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill banning state entities from dealing with businesses that boycott Israel or its settlements. The bill approved Thursday follows the state Senate’s approval of a similar bill in March by overwhelming numbers. Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign a reconciled version of both bills next month. In statements, pro-Israel groups that lobbied for the bills praised its passage. “The relationship between the Jewish state and the Lone Star State is built upon shared value... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-At first glance, The New York Times' hiring of another white, Jewish male opinion-page columnist is anything but news. But the arrival of Bret Stephens, formerly the foreign affairs columnist for The Wall Street Journal, may be especially resonant for American Jews. Stephens, 42, is the former editor of The Jerusalem Post, a Pulitzer Prize laureate, and an assertive defender of Israel and its current government's policies. He, along with several other Jewish conservatives, has... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)—Is J Street anti-Semitic? A South Carolina state legislator insists it is. But few, if any, Jewish leaders seem to agree. Alan Clemmons, a Republican lawmaker from Myrtle Beach, is a darling of the pro-Israel community. He led the charge to pass a 2015 state law outlawing contracts with companies that boycott Israel. He has sponsored legislation defining anti-Semitism, and was honored by pro-Israel groups during last year’s Republican National Convention for his support. So Clemmons, a member of the state’s House of Repre... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Lisa Greer didn't think twice when she used her cellphone to donate to IfNotNow, a Jewish organization that protests Israel's West Bank occupation. Greer and her husband, Joshua, had given millions to progressive Jewish and Israel causes, and she sits on the board of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles. So last October, she gave the $5,000 contribution to IfNotNow from her donor-advised fund at the foundation, a mechanism for philanthropists to give to specific causes... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-"Many voices, one mission." If AIPAC's 2017 annual policy conference slogan, popping up on the conference app on activists' smartphones, isn't clear enough, the morning pick-me-up video it runs before conference business begins is pretty straightforward. In the video, activists are gravitating through sunny streets here toward the convention center, and titles float above them: Democrat, Republican, Independent, country music, classic rock, straight up coffee, triple-shot... Full story
WASHINGTON—On the morning of March 30, JCC Association of North America and a delegation of Jewish leaders met with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The meeting comes in the aftermath of 88 Jewish Community Centers or day schools that share campuses with them, in 36 states and four Canadian provinces, receiving 134 threats over the past three months, as well as threats to other Jewish institutions. The delegation had requested a meeting with the attorney general to discuss the investigation, federal and local law agencies’ support for Jew... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The U.S. Senate confirmed David Friedman, a confidante of President Donald Trump who outraged some Jewish groups with his broadsides against liberal Jews, as ambassador to Israel. The 52-46 vote on Thursday afternoon hewed mostly to party lines. Only two Democrats-Sens. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Joe Manchin of West Virginia-backed the nomination among the 48 senators who caucus with the party. Friedman, a longtime Trump lawyer who is heavily invested philanthropically in... Full story
ATLANTA (JTA)—For decades, the Lippman Kanfer family has focused its philanthropy on local Jewish communities and national initiatives to teach Torah—funding causes from the Anshe Sfard Congregation in Akron, Ohio, to a Jewish day school network. But since Nov. 8, Election Day, the family has been talking about another set of issues—refugees, voting rights and civic engagement. Like so many other things, its giving has been shaken by the Donald Trump administration. “When it’s time to step up, we have to step up,” said Marcella Kanfer Roln... Full story
