Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1019 - 1043 of 1886
NEW YORK (JTA)-Days after a series of attacks against Jews across Brooklyn, the Anti-Defamation League announced that it would double funding for a school program combating hate. But city officials say more than education is needed to stop the rash of attacks, which have spiked across this city in 2019. That's because the problem is hard to diagnose. Is it the local effect of a national rise in anti-Semitism? The resurfacing of old resentments? Are Jews being scapegoated for the impact of... Full story
AMHERST, Mass. (JTA)-For the second time in six months, several high-profile proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel are sharing a stage at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst-and prompting concern and counteractions from pro-Israel students. Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour, Harvard professor Cornell West and other BDS supporters were due to appear at a Nov. 12 event at the university's main campus titled "Criminalizing Dissent: The attack... Full story
(JTA)—President Donald Trump will be the keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Israeli-American Council. Billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a Trump supporter and mega donor to Republican candidates, is one of the council’s major supporters. The council said in a statement that it will be Trump’s first appearance to a non-political Jewish organization. Since Trump took office, the only Jewish group he has spoken to is the Republican Jewish Coalition. The summit will take place on Dec. 5-8 in Florida and is expecting nearly 4,000 atten... Full story
(JTA)—A Palestinian student at Benedictine University called on a Holocaust survivor to condemn the establishment of Israel, and then walked out on his speech after he did not do so. Following a speech last week by Professor Harold Kasimow, who survived the Holocaust as a child, Benedictine senior Ayah Ali asked a question which drew a parallel between Kasimow’s experiences and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Ali, according to her Twitter feed, is affiliated with the Chicago-area school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palesti... Full story
SAN FRANCISCO (J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA)—Why was a Nazi flag hanging on the wall inside a California parole office over the weekend? The state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has launched an investigation to find out. An anonymous video uploaded Saturday on Imgur, a video and photo sharing website similar to Instagram, shows a red Nazi flag with a black swastika in the center visible through the window of a CDCR office in downtown Sacramento. The video also shows what appears to be a second flag, black wi... Full story
(JTA)-Eleven memorial candles stood on a table at the start of the public memorial service for the attack one year ago on the Tree of Life synagogue building. Family members of the 11 people killed in the attack walked around the table holding hands as a string ensemble played in the background. They then lit the candles, wiping their eyes and hugging each other. The Jewish community was joined at Sunday's ceremony by members of the Christian and Muslim faith communities, as well as city and... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and billionaire media mogul, appears to be preparing to run for president. Bloomberg, 77, flirted with presidential runs in past election cycles before declining to run. As recently as March, he ruled out a presidential campaign this year, writing that he was "clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination in such a crowded field." But now he is registering to run in the Democratic primary in Alabama, whose... Full story
The Zionist Organization of America achieved an important legal victory against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, after the ZOA filed an anti-Semitism complaint against UNC with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. In an April 17, 2019, letter to OCR, the ZOA complained that UNC sponsored a one-sided anti-Israel conference on March 22-24, 2019, titled “Conflict over Gaza: People, Politics and Possibilities.” The Conference included an offensive, anti-Semitic performance by a rapper. Days after the confe... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Nita Lowey, who is retiring after 32 years in Congress, fields a question about her legacy as a Jewish lawmaker. No trouble there-she talks about Israel and her Jewish pride all the time. Then there's one about her legacy as one of the pioneering women in Congress. That one goes down easy, too: Her office is plastered with photos signifying how far women have come in American politics. But when a reporter asks a question combining the two-about her legacy as a female Jewish lawm... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, is making conditioning U.S. aid to Israel on halting settlement expansion a plank ahead of the 2020 presidential elections. “Our aid is not intended to be a blank check,” Jeremy Ben-Ami, the group’s president, said Sunday evening, at the group’s annual conference, ahead of the first appearance at the conference of a Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Ben-Ami called on candidates to reverse Trump administration policies that have favored I... Full story
Taking a turn on J Street J Street convened its eighth annual conference this week, its 11th year of existence. The gathering attracted 4,000 activists and marked a major turning point in how Democrats treat Israel: Withholding aid to pressure the Jewish state to comply with policy is now an idea that is very much on the table. More accurately, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group delivered its partial OK to action that’s already well underway because of pressure from groups sharply critical of Israel, including IfNotNow. Plenty of t... Full story
Ask any parent of Jewish day school students about the biggest challenge they face in providing a solid Jewish education for their kids: Chances are they’ll talk about tuition. At some schools in the New York-New Jersey area, where most U.S. Jewish day school students are located, annual tuition fees of $30,000 in high school and $20,000 in elementary school are not unusual. Mindful of the challenge, schools and communities across the country are experimenting with various strategies to keep Jewish education affordable—even for families that do... Full story
(JNS)-Up and down the state of California, synagogues, Hebrew schools and Jewish residents are dealing with effects of wildfires that have consumed tens of thousands of acres in recent days, from evacuations to school closures to days with no electricity as authorities try to limit the fire damage and danger. In Northern California, the Torah scrolls from Congregation Beth Ami in Santa Rosa were evacuated from the synagogue on Saturday as winds whipped flames from the Kincade Fire in nearby... Full story
(JNS)—The watchdog group Stopantisemitism.org is calling on the U.S. Department of Education and Georgie State University to keep the “terror-affiliated” Council on American-Islamic Relations off U.S. college campuses. “The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an American front group for the terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Muslim Brotherhoods, is infiltrating the U.S. education system,” said the petition, which already has nearly 2,000 signatures. “Their anti-American agenda is infecting school curriculums, poisoning t... Full story
(JTA)-Since announcing his presidential run in May, Michael Bennet has been polling between zero and 1 percent. He didn't qualify for the latest Democratic debate and he's a long shot to make the next one. The Colorado senator raised only $2.1 million in the third quarter of 2019, less than a tenth of the total brought in by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. But Bennet isn't ready to give up yet, believing he's got what it takes to beat President Donald Trump in 2020. "I'm unconvinced that... Full story
(JTA)-Most of the news surrounding Houston Astros slugger Alex Bregman on Tuesday night focused on his "bat carry"-how he ostentatiously carried his bat down to first base while watching his first inning home run sail over the left field fence before dropping it. He apologized for the move after the game. But the Jewish third baseman's blast was historic, too: It was his fifth in a World Series, setting the all-time record for most World Series home runs by a third baseman. It was his third... Full story
The headlines called it Paradise lost: The northern California town of Paradise, population 27,000, devastated in November 2018 by the so-called Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's recorded history. In addition to 86 people killed and 15 injured, the raging fire destroyed 18,804 structures over 240 square miles and took 17 days to get under control. Paradise residents lost homes, friends, relatives, pets and treasured possessions. It takes many professionals... Full story
(JNS)—The American NGO Alums for Campus Fairness released a comprehensive report last week that documents what ACF describes as “systemic anti-Semitism and an ingrained delegitimization of Israel” at Columbia University and its sister school, Barnard College. The 33-page dossier documents more than 100 incidents that have made Columbia and Barnard “a hotbed for hate” since the 2016-17 academic year. The catalogue categorized each act into one of these categories: anti-Semitic expressio... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—When it comes to pressuring Israel, Elizabeth Warren doesn’t have a specific plan. The senator from Massachusetts, who has caught up in polling with front-runners for the Democratic presidential nomination, now faces intensified scrutiny as a newly viable contender. And what has emerged is that Warren is vague about how she would pressure Israel if she perceives it to be acting contrary to U.S. interests. In a video submitted to this week’s annual conference of J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, Warren offer... Full story
(JTA)-Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley will be honored by the World Jewish Congress. Haley will receive the WJC's annual Theodor Herzl Award, recognizing individuals who work to promote Herzl's ideals for a safer, more tolerant world for the Jewish people, WJC said in a statement. In addition, actor, singer, director, and photographer Joel Grey will be presented with the WJC's fourth Teddy Kollek Award for the Advancement of Jewish Culture. World Jewish Congress... Full story
(JTA)—The Tree of Life synagogue building, the site of an attack a year ago that left 11 worshippers dead, will reopen as a “center for Jewish life in the United States.” The Tree of Life Congregation issued a statement to announce its “vision” for the building on Friday. The building, which was home to three different congregations, has not reopened since the Oct. 27, 2019 attack. The attack left the building “unsuitable for worship,” according to the statement. It was in need of serious repair and renovation before the attack took place, i... Full story
(JTA)—Maryland state officials said they will strengthen requirements for Holocaust education in middle schools and high schools. The announcement by State Superintendent Karen Salmon comes days before the one-year anniversary of the shooting by a white supremacist gunman at a Pittsburgh synagogue building that left 11 worshippers dead Among the plans are to teach about the roots of anti-Semitism in middle school social studies classes and deepen instruction about the Holocaust in high school as part of history courses, The Washington Post r... Full story
There is not a new Hanukkah stamp for 2019. The United States Postal Service says the 2018 Hanukkah stamp will be used, again, this year. They also say that the 2018 Hanukkah stamps are already in post offices, left over from last year. There, also, is not a new 2019 “Traditional” (religious) Christmas stamp. Again, the USPS says stock of those stamps are already in post offices. I’m sure every post office will have the Christmas stamps. However many will not have Hanukkah stamps. Past history has shown me this. If your local post office does... Full story
(JTA)-Bernie Sanders was one of only two Democratic presidential candidates to address the Islamic Society of North America Convention in August, the largest annual gathering of Muslim Americans in the country. Organizers invited the 10 highest-polling contenders at the time to the Houston event, but the Vermont senator and Julian Castro were the only ones to accept. Sanders received loud applause and a standing ovation for a speech that repeatedly invoked his refugee father's flight from... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-More than eight in 10 American Jews say that anti-Semitism has spiked in recent years and even more believe it is a problem in the United States, according to an American Jewish Committee survey. Nearly three-quarters of respondents strongly disapprove of how President Donald Trump is handling anti-Semitism and significantly more see the extreme political right as more of a serious threat to them than the extreme political left. The telephone survey of 1,283 Jewish adults... Full story
