Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) — Alpha Epsilon Pi International, the world’s largest and leading Jewish college fraternity, has launched an innovative new virtual fraternity chapter – AEPi’s “Chapter Without Walls” – for men looking for the specific brand of Jewish leadership development and advocacy training that AEPi provides but attend colleges at which there is not an active AEPi chapter. The AEPi Chapter Without Walls currently has members from schools such as Clemson University, The New School, Savanah College of Art and Design, Furman University an...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — One day before their university’s president was due to appear before Congress, hundreds of Jewish Rutgers University staff and students decried what they described as an intimidating campus environment for Jews. “The entire university community has suffered through the disruption of normal university operations and an often chaotic and intimidating environment on our campuses,” said one letter released Wednesday by Rutgers Jewish Faculty, Administrators, and Staff, with 208 signatures. A separate letter from close to 160 Jew...
(JTA) — Columbia University has settled a lawsuit brought against it by a Jewish student alleging a hostile environment as a result of the pro-Palestinian encampment movement. The settlement is a major development in Jewish groups’ efforts to hold universities accountable in light of a reported increase in campus antisemitism since Oct. 7. As part of the settlement, Columbia has promised to provide walking escorts and safe campus entrances at all hours of the day, as well as accommodations for students who were unable to complete exams owi...
(JTA) — The Republican Jewish Coalition leapt to the defense of Donald Trump after he was found guilty on 34 charges related to falsifying records to conceal that he paid an adult film star to cover up a sexual liaison just before the 2016 presidential election. The verdict makes Trump, who is seeking to return to office this fall, the only U.S. president ever to have been convicted of a felony. “Without question this is a political prosecution of a political opponent,” Matt Brooks, the group’s CEO, said after jurors in Manhattan deliver...
(New York Jewish Week) — Three years after voting to “consider” boycotting Israel, and weeks after defending a pro-Palestinian student encampment, the faculty union of the City University of New York overwhelmingly rejected a resolution calling for an Israel boycott. The union’s president actively opposed the resolution, saying that it inappropriately singled out Israel. But insiders say the Professional Staff Congress’ rejection may have had more to do with the union’s salary negotiations than any principled view about the Israel-Hama...
(JNS) — Members of the U.N. Security Council, including the United States, observed a minute of silence on Monday in memory of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday. Footage posted on social media showed the body’s 15 representatives rising to honor the memory of the leader, known as the “Butcher of Tehran” for his role in the 1988 execution of 30,000 political prisoners. The video shows Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, joining in the minute of silence alongside representatives of th...
(Jewish Journal via JNS) — Across the country, angry protesters have been blocking highways, heckling political leaders and setting up tent encampments on college campuses, all to protest a non-existent genocide. But when a real genocide is unfolding, nobody’s interested. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof reported last week that genocide appears to be erupting again in the Sudanese region of Darfur. “Some of the same Arab forces responsible for the genocide in the 2000s are picking up where they left off,” Kristof writes. “They are mass...
(JNS) — A group of pro-Israel Christian college students demonstrated their support for the Jewish state with a solidarity “walk-in” at the University of California, Los Angeles on Monday. Members of the organization Passages joined Students Supporting Israel on the Westwood campus to celebrate Israel’s 76th Independence Day. According to Passages, the “walk-in” concept was created to counter the anti-Israel “walk-outs” in recent months that have turned universities into hostile environments for Jewish and Zionist students and faculty. Passag...
(JTA) — Pro-Palestinian encampment protesters at dozens of universities have called for their administrations to divest from Israel. But on two campuses, activists are asking their schools to split from organizations closer to home that they say are complicit in Israeli crimes. At Drexel University in Philadelphia and the University of California, Santa Cruz, pro-Palestinian protesters have demanded their universities cut ties with, or “terminate” the presence of, the schools’ Hillel chapters. The Drexel protesters also demand that the univers...
(JNS) - Pro-Israel candidates fared well in primary races across the nation on Tuesday, although their opponents largely shared their views about the Jewish state. Sarah Elfreth, a Maryland state senator, won the Democratic primary for the state's 3rd Congressional District with $4 million in spending from AIPAC's United Democracy Project super PAC. She defeated Harry Dunn, a former Capitol Police officer who rose to national prominence for his actions defending the Capitol during the Jan. 6...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Before sending the letter she knew would ricochet around the world, Lily Greenberg Call gave her parents a heads-up and said goodbye to her colleagues. Then she went home and prepared for the storm that she correctly predicted would be unleashed Wednesday night, May 16, when she was revealed to be the first Jewish staffer to resign from the Biden administration to protest President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Speaking to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency after watching her story unfold in public, Green...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — At least twice while campaigning in the small towns of the western stretch of Maryland’s 6th District, Joe Vogel headed to Shabbat services. Synagogues in Cumberland and Frederick were only too happy to accommodate when his campaign called ahead and said the Jewish candidate wanted to stop by on a Saturday morning. In fact, the Frederick congregation had a favor to ask of the young elected official: Could he lift up a Torah scroll? “It’s a slightly older congregation and they needed someone that could do the hagbah,...
(JTA) — On Tuesday night, the president of Sonoma State University sent an email to his school community announcing an academic boycott of Israel and other concessions to pro-Palestinian protesters on his campus. On Wednesday afternoon, he sent another surprising message: He was taking a leave of absence. “In my attempt to find agreement with one group of students, I marginalized other members of our student population and community,” Mike Lee wrote in the second email. “I realize the harm that this has caused, and I take full ownersh...
(JTA) – The student encampment at Cornell University is disbanding, in a rare instance of a campus pro-Palestinian protest dissolving on its own. Encampments at a series of other schools have ended only after schools made agreements with protesters or called in police. Police action has led to thousands of arrests, chaotic scenes of violence and accusations of suppressing free speech. Agreements with protesters have incurred the wrath of many in the organized Jewish community, who argue that the encampments should face consequences for e...
By Andrew Lapin (JTA) – The student encampment at Cornell University is disbanding, in a rare instance of a campus pro-Palestinian protest dissolving on its own. Encampments at a series of other schools have ended only after schools made agreements with protesters or called in police. Police action has led to thousands of arrests, chaotic scenes of violence and accusations of suppressing free speech. Agreements with protesters have incurred the wrath of many in the organized Jewish community, who argue that the encampments should face c...
(JNS) — The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee reached a deal on Sunday with anti-Israel protesters two weeks after the latter set up tents on campus “in defiance of a state rule banning camping on campus property,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Mark Mone, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, stated on Sunday that the “voluntary dismantling of the encampment is the safest conclusion for everyone.” In response to the protesters’ demands, the public university called for a ceasefire in Gaza and “for the release of the...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Twenty-six Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have asked the White House for a briefing on why President Joe Biden suspended the delivery of large bombs to Israel, the latest sign of fractures in the party over Israel policy. “We are deeply concerned about the message the Administration is sending to Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies by withholding weapons shipments to Israel, during a critical moment in the negotiations,” said the letter sent Friday to Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national securit...
Hundreds of curious Jews will be streaming into Miami, Florida, for the 18th National Jewish Retreat, which will run at Miami's Doral Hotel from Aug. 14 to Aug. 18. Seventy speakers will deliver 150 talks on intriguing Jewish topics over five days. "Every year we bring a group from Orlando to this meaningful vacation and they always love it," says Rabbi Yanky Majesky of Chabad North Orlando "While they decompress and network, they're soaking up gobs of knowledge and inspiration." Coordinated by...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Bernie Sanders, the two-time presidential candidate and leading progressive senator, has announced he will run for a fourth term. Sanders, 82, an independent from Vermont, made history in 2016 as the first Jewish candidate to win a major party’s presidential primary, and ran again in 2020. In both primaries, he finished in second to the Democratic nominee. He is considered the de-facto leader of progressives in the Senate. In an eight-minute campaign launch speech posted online Monday, Sanders called to suspend U.S. mil...
(JNS) — As Jewish comedian Jerry Seinfeld received an honorary degree during Duke University’s commencement celebration in Durham, N.C. on Sunday, anti-Israel protesters marched out, chanting “Free, free Palestine.” Many students booed the protesters. Outside the stadium where the ceremony took place, graduates walked around campus, chanting “Disclose. Divest. We will not stop. We will not rest,” The New York Times reported. “We understand the depth of feeling in our community, and as we have all year, we respect the right of everyone at D...
(JNS) — Some 24 hours after U.S. President Joe Biden told CNN that he would withhold military aid from the Jewish state if Israel attacked Rafah, the Jewish Federations of North America stated that “in threatening to withhold military aid from Israel, President Biden is wrong.” “Daylight between the United States and Israel on military matters emboldens Hamas and other Iran-backed forces in the region, encourages their delay tactics and endangers the hostages by weakening Israel’s negotiating hand at a critical juncture,” it said. JFNA added...
A Republican senator has called on the House of Representatives to launch impeachment proceedings against President Joe Biden over the president's decision to halt military sales to Israel in a bid to prevent the IDF from destroying Hamas battalions in Rafah. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton took to Twitter Thursday to urge the Republican-held House of Representatives to impeach Biden, comparing the president's decision to withhold arms from Israel with then-President Donald Trump's impeachment for...
(JNS) — House and Senate Republicans slammed U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to pause an arms shipment to Israel and demanded that the administration explain why it failed to notify Congress. Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Ted Budd (R-N.C.) wrote to the Biden administration asking for answers about the frozen arms deal. “We are shocked that your administration has reportedly decided to withhold critical ammunition to Israel,” the senators wrote. “You promised your commitment to Israel was ironclad,” they added. “Pausing much-needed m...
The Jewish National Fund-USA’s Hub and Resource Guide gives a list of organizations fighting anti-Jewish hate on college campuses. The link is https://www.jnf.org/our-work/education-and-advocacy/college-campus-resources. JNF Reporting Tool Kit The site also offers an antisemitism reporting tool kit where you can report any incident of antisemitism straight to your college campus administrator. Local College Chapters JNF also suggests joining your local college chapters to help make a difference: AEPI Students Supporting Israel Israel on C...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — In his first address about the pro-Palestinian protests rocking campuses nationwide, President Joe Biden said “order must prevail” but rejected proposals to bring in federal troops. “Dissent must never lead to disorder, or to denying the rights of others so students can finish the semester and their college education,” Biden said Thursday in the four-minute speech. “It’s basically a matter of fairness. It’s a matter of what’s right. There’s the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos.” Biden did not announce conc...
