Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1280 - 1304 of 1923
(Chabad.org/News via JNS)—Voices filled with emotion, Chabad rabbis from across California made clear their determination to help people in need while dealing with the ongoing devastation that uncontrollable blazes have wrought on their hometowns. “Paradise is a part of our community,” said Rabbi Mendy Zwiebel of the town in Northern California where more than 30 people have been killed as the Camp Fire decimated all of structures in its path. “We had people over for Shabbat who lost everything. This wasn’t expected. On Thursday morning,... Full story
(JNS)—The U.S. Department of State announced on Tuesday rewards of up to $5 million each for information or identification leading to the capture of the following terrorist figures: Hamas leader Saleh al-Aruri, and Hezbollah leaders Khalil Yusif Mahmoud Harb and Haytham ‘Ali Tabataba’i. Aruri is a deputy of Hamas’s political bureau and a founder of the group’s military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades. He is currently living “freely in Lebanon, where he reportedly is working with Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolutiona... Full story
(JTA)-The death toll and damage continue to rise in California in the wildfires ravaging the state. More than 6,400 homes have been damaged and at least 31 people have been killed, according to CNN. Like other Californians, Jewish residents are evacuating their homes and dealing with the devastating fallout of the fires. Synagogues, camps and a day school have all sustained damage. Here are two remarkable stories of people coming together as a result of the fires, including a rabbi who ran into... Full story
LOS ANGELES (JTA)-The Woolsey Fire, which began late last week and engulfed a massive swath of Southern California, has killed at least two people, burned nearly 100,000 acres and ravaged hundreds of structures-including several touchstones of Jewish life in this city. Three historic Jewish sleep-away camps and a Jewish retreat center, all nestled in the Malibu hills, were consumed. A Jewish community day school lost three of its buildings, and several synagogues have smoke damage. Many... Full story
The Zionist Organization of America has condemned the anti-Israel record of newly elected Member of Congress Ihlan Omar and is seeking to alert the public to her record of hostile, anti-Israel extremism. Omar, a Muslim refugee from Somalia, was elected in the 2018 midterm elections to replace Rep. Keith Ellison (D–MI) in the state’s 5th Congressional District, a solidly Democratic seat. The ZOA has also called upon the Democratic Party and the media to criticize her anti-Israel extremism, something which reportage on her campaign and vic... Full story
(JNS)-Actors Alyssa Milano and Debra Messing are being applauded for speaking out against anti-Semitism associated with the Women's March movement, with the former announcing that she will not speak at next year's march and the latter backing the decision. The Zioness Movement, which attended the Women's March in 2017, said it "applauds Alyssa Milano and Debra Messing for calling out the leaders of the Women's March for their hateful rhetoric and their continued association with bigots and... Full story
(JNS)—In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, 69 organizations asked for assurances that taxpayer dollars will not be used toward supporting the BDS movement. The letter was prompted by two pro-BDS events recently hosted by academic departments at the University of Michigan and New York University that are part of the Department of Education-designated Middle East Studies National Resource Centers. The event sponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at Michigan was held 48 hours after a gunman shot a... Full story
By Ben Sales NEW YORK (JTA)-After a mass shooting in a heavily Jewish area shocked the nation, Rabbi Yakov Saacks felt like his Long Island congregation was at risk. So the rabbi installed 17 cameras on the synagogue's exterior that can zoom in to read numbers on license plates, as well as indoor cameras at each entrance. He began covering the windows with Kevlar, at around $800 each, making them shatterproof in case vandals hit them with rocks. And he hired armed security guards to protect the... Full story
(Los Angeles, CA)—StandWithUs has launched a wide-scale campaign to hold National Students for Justice in Palestine accountable for spreading anti-Semitism, supporting violence, and violating free speech. The campaign features a petition to the U.S. Department of Education and higher education governing bodies in Canada, letter from StandWithUs and Alums for Campus Fairness to every university with a registered SJP affiliate, social media content educating the public about SJP’s extremism, op-eds, and more. “We are putting all relevant gover... Full story
(JTA)—More than 75 percent of Jews voted for Democrats on an Election Day that was also good to Jewish congressional candidates. A poll conducted by GBA Strategies, a Democrat-aligned pollster, and commissioned by the liberal Israel lobby J Street, found that 76 percent of Jewish voters voted for Democrats, while 19 percent voted for Republicans. A CNN exit poll found that the Jewish split was 79 percent to 17 percent. According to The New York Times, 51 percent of American voters overall cast ballots for House Democrats, versus 47 percent for... Full story
(JTA)—Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections held Nov. 6, with Jewish Congress members poised to take key leadership roles. Republicans looked to increase their majority in the Senate. Five Jewish Democrats are set to chair key House committees, including three representatives from New York: Jerrold Nadler, the Judiciary Committee; Eliot Engel, Foreign Affairs; and Nita Lowey, Appropriations Adam Schiff of California will head the Intelligence Committee and John Yarmuth of Kentucky (brother of O... Full story
(JNS)—In the wake of the synagogue shooting last week in Pittsburgh, activists from several mainline Protestant churches came under fire for promoting a culture of anti-Semitism in their churches, especially the United Methodist Church. The worst offenders are usually activists affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) and the United Church of Christ (UCC). But this year, the activists and officials from the United Methodist Church took on a leading role by hosting the controversial “Christ at the Checkpoint Conference” in Oklah... Full story
(JNS)-The controversial Canary Mission-an anonymous campus watchdog group that exposes organizations, academics and activists that demonize Israel on college campuses-recently came under fire when the San Francisco Jewish Federation indicated that it would no longer facilitate private-donor funding of the group. Articles in The Forward blasted the organization as "shadowy" for refusing to identify its leadership and sources of funding. Yet for pro-Israel student activists who are actively... Full story
PITTSBURGH (JTA)-In the middle of the day on Tuesday, above a growing pile of wilting flower bouquets and sympathy cards, five wooden, five-pointed stars hung on a signpost in front of Tree of Life Congregation, where 11 Jews were gunned down three days before. Similar stars hang around the world at sites of other mass shootings known now by the shorthand of the cities where they took place: San Bernardino. Orlando. Newtown. Parkland. Now they hang here, brightly colored and carrying messages... Full story
(JNS)-Despite mixed reactions, U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon in the aftermath of a gunman killing 11 people and injuring six others at the Tree of Life*Or L'Simcha Synagogue. The visit comes as the community buried the first of the victims on Tuesday. The president was accompanied by his wife, Melania; chief of staff John Kelly; press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders; and White House deputy chief of staff for communications Bi... Full story
(JTA)-The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the largest newspaper serving the Pennsylvania city's metropolitan area, printed a part of the Jewish mourner's prayer in Hebrew as its front-page headline. The first four words of the Mourner's Kaddish were printed on Friday's front page as a tribute to the 11 people killed last weekend in a shooting attack at the city's Tree of Life synagogue, allegedly by a far-right extremist. The words mean "may His great name be exalted and sanctified." The same prayer,... Full story
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (JTA)—On Saturday, the front line in the struggle to save and perpetuate Judaism ran through Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I know a little something about that front line. Born in Pittsburgh, raised in her suburbs, an adult living on the North Side and East End of the city, I am—with apologies to my new hometown in this city—a Pittsburgher until I die. As the editor of The Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh for 13 years, ground zero for my coverage was Squirrel Hill, the Pittsburgh neighborhood where Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha synagog... Full story
On Wednesday, the National Council of Young Israel addressed criticism of President Donald Trump following a synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh that represents the worst attack on Jews in the U.S. in the nation's history. NCYI counts 25,000 families among its members at 135 branch synagogues across the globe, in the United States, Israel, and Canada. "We were horrified to hear the news about the anti-Semitic murderous rampage against Jews praying at Congregation Etz Chaim in Pittsburgh," said NCYI... Full story
(JNS)—In the aftermath of Saturday’s shooting at the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 Jewish worshippers were shot dead and six others injured by a lone gunman, have come calls for increased security at Jewish institutions across the United States. Although this funding cannot be used for armed security, synagogues and other Jewish places have relied on a Department of Homeland Security grant to protect themselves. “The primary purpose of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program is to provide funding support for target... Full story
(JTA)—Robert Bowers, the man held in the shooting deaths of 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday, belonged to an online community where he frequently railed against Jews and immigrants. That social media site, Gab, has come under closer scrutiny this week. Created two years ago as a haven for far-rightists who felt they were being targeted on mainstream platforms, Gab quickly rose in popularity. But the site wasn’t just home to ideological discussions. Critics say threats of violence and virulent hatred are a common theme of tho... Full story
Robert Gregory Bowers, opened fire with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons during worship services inside Tree of Life Synagogue on Saturday, killing eight men and three women before a tactical police team tracked him down and shot him, according to state and federal affidavits. He expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage and later told police that "all these Jews need to die," authorities said. Officials released the names of all 11 of the dead, all of them middle-aged or elderly. The victims... Full story
(JTA)-When a gunman entered The Tree of Life Congregation and killed 11 worshippers on Saturday, he also struck at the heart of Pittsburgh's Jewish community-the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. Squirrel Hill, in the eastern part of Pittsburgh, has been the center of the city's Jewish life since the turn of the 20th century, when wealthy Jewish families began settling there. While the Jewish communities of other cities have moved neighborhoods or migrated to the suburbs in the ensuing... Full story
By Josefin Dolsten (JTA)—As news spread of the shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Jews—and Americans of all backgrounds—across the country were reeling from the shock. With 11 confirmed casualties, it is the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history. The alleged gunman, a 46-year-old white male named Robert Bowers, shouted “All these Jews need to die,” according to reports. JTA took a look at other times that U.S. Jewish institutions were targeted and the attackers’ affiliations. 1999 Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shoo... Full story
By Ben Sales (JTA)—On Saturday, a gunman entered the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh and killed 11 people, wounding six others. It was the worst recorded anti-Semitic act in American history. Here’s how the tragedy happened. (This account has been reconstructed from JTA’s reporting, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The New York Times and the “Today” show. Some of the times are approximate.) Before the shooting Robert Bowers, the alleged gunman, is a truck driver from the Pittsburgh area who lives in a one-bedroom apartment about a half-ho... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Among the 36 Jewish Democrats running for the U.S. House of Representatives in November, 18 are incumbents and an equal number are challengers. Three Jewish Democrats are leaving the House: Sandy Levin of Michigan is retiring, Jacky Rosen of Nevada is running for the Senate and Jared Polis of Colorado is a candidate for governor. Additionally, two House candidates, both Democrats, have Jewish fathers and say that shaped their outlook, but they do not identify as Jewish. At... Full story
