Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1568 - 1592 of 1886
Amid the intrigue and speculation over the upcoming Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland, one item that the party has settled is its firm support for Israel and opposition to a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On July 12, the Republican Platform Committee unanimously approved a number of significant changes to its platform in an attempt to further set the party’s pro-Israel credentials apart from the Democrats, who are facing concerns over their party’s future support for the Jewish state. The GOP’s platform...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg launched a broadside against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump over the last week, calling him unfit for office. She subsequently apologized, but not before voices on the right and left criticized her for seeming to compromise the high court's dignity and objectivity. "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg needs to drop the political punditry and the name-calling," The New York Times editorial board said. The Washington Post...
WASHINGTON D.C.-In the wake of the Pulse Nightclub shooting, the worst mass shooting in our nation's history, Rep. Alan Grayson (FL-09) has introduced the Freedom From Fear Act that will reinstate the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, which Congress allowed to expire in 2004. For the Congressman this attack was close to home: many of the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting lived in his district. There were 49 people murdered and 53 wounded in a matter of minutes. The gunmen used a semi-automatic...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Sen. Marco Rubio cited his intention to kill the Iran nuclear deal in his decision to run for reelection to the Senate. The Florida Republican, first elected in 2010, opted out of running to keep his seat when he announced his candidacy last year for the Republican presidential nomination. He was driven out of that race this year by Donald Trump, who defeated Rubio in his home state primary and is now the presumptive nominee. But on Wednesday, Rubio reversed his decision and...
In a 65-4 vote, the Rhode Island House of Representatives passed legislation prohibiting the state from contracting with companies that participate in boycotts of allies and trade partners of the United States—most notably, Israel. HB 7736 passed the Rhode Island House on June 16 and received unanimous support two days later in the state’s Senate. Governor Gina Raimondo is expected to sign the measure later this week. Rhode Island’s measure against the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was introduced by State Rep....
WASHINGTON (JTA)-An exhibit over 20 years old against an iPhone: Docents at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum are increasingly noting the battle with hand-held devices to keep the interest of young people. Now a $20 million gift to help revitalize the Washington, D.C., museum will aim to assist the docents while focusing on the challenges posed to democracies by rapid changes in technology. Allan and Shelley Holt announced their grant for the Washington, D.C., museum on Monday, June 13, in...
NEW YORK (JTA)—It happened all at once and not to me alone. There was Hillary Clinton, in her June 7 victory speech, honoring her mother’s memory; saluting her daughter, Chelsea; paying tribute to herself for raising such a child, and claiming her party’s nomination as the “milestone” it is. “I really wish my mother could be here tonight,” Clinton said. “I wish she could see what a wonderful mother Chelsea has become and could meet our beautiful granddaughter, Charlotte. And of course, I wish she could see her daughter become the Democratic...
It's not really a question of "how" Jason Greenblatt, the real estate transactions lawyer and son of Hungarian-Jewish immigrants who grew up in New York City's Queens borough, became a presidential candidate's adviser on issues related to Israel. For him, it's more a question of "what"-what will he do with the immense opportunity he has been given? Greenblatt-a Teaneck, N.J., resident who in April was named as a primary Israel adviser to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald...
Washington, D.C.—A two-page American Jewish Committee ad in June 6’s Wall Street Journal lists the 508 U.S. and European mayors and municipal leaders who have signed on to its Mayors United Against Anti-Semitism initiative, pledging to combat the rise of anti-Semitism. There were 35 mayors in Florida who signed, including two from Central Florida: Apopka Mayor Joe Kilsheimer, Ocala Mayor Kent Guinn, and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. “Bravo to those urban leaders from cities, big and small, across the U.S. and Europe, for their courage, convi...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging Germany to increase funding for Holocaust survivors. The nonbinding resolution, which passed by a vote of 363-0 on Tuesday, urges Germany to “ensure that every Holocaust victim receives all of the prescribed medical care, home care, mental health care, and other vital services necessary to live in dignity” and to provide “additional financial resources to address the unique needs of Holocaust victims.” The resolution, initiated earlier this year by R...
(JTA)-Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, The Associated Press reported Monday. With more super delegates telling the AP they're committed to her, Clinton now has the votes she needs to win the nomination. But that's not the end for Bernie Sanders, by far the most successful Jewish presidential candidate in American history. The Independent Vermont senator is defiant and says he's taking the fight to the Democratic National Convention. He's said he'll try to flip...
(JTA)—The U.S. government can file a classified statement to the court in the case of Jonathan Pollard’s strict parole limitations, a federal judge has ruled. Pollard’s attorneys, who are trying to have the limitations eased, would not be permitted to see the “ex-parte” court submission. Judge Katherine Forrest of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan ruled Monday that the government could submit the classified statement, but that it must “disclose to Pollard’s attorneys the ‘gist or substance’ of its submission... at a high level of generali...
NEW YORK (JTA)-Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is facing growing accusations that his campaign is countenancing anti-Semitism-if not encouraging it outright. Trump's foreign policy slogan, "America First," echoes the World War II-era noninterventionist movement championed by a notorious anti-Semite. During the height of the primary campaign, Trump delayed disavowing the support of white supremacist David Duke. And the candidate has failed to condemn the recent...
(JTA)-The oldest American is now a 113-year-old Jewish woman named Goldie. After the death of 116-year-old Susannah Mushatt-Jones two weeks ago, the New York Daily News reported that Goldie Michelson of Worcester, Massachusetts, became the oldest living American. Since the death of another Goldie, 114-year-old Goldie Steinberg last year, Michelson has likely been the oldest Jew in the world, too. (The oldest person in the world is now 116-year-old Italian Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, according to...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—A bill unanimously approved by the U.S. House of Representatives would extend religious protections to advocates of circumcision and ritual slaughter as well as atheists, addressing what its sponsors describe as an increase in religious persecution in recent years. The bill, passed Monday, would broaden the definition of “violations of religious freedom” in the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to include the persecution of advocates of male circumcision or ritual animal slaughter. Atheists would become a new prote...
(JTA)—Just days after rejecting four resolutions calling for divestment from companies that profit from Israel’s control of the West Bank, the United Methodist Church recommended withdrawing from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. In a nonbinding vote of 478-318 at its general conference in Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday, the church accepted a petition requesting its withdrawal from the group, Religion News Service reported. It was not clear if the church would act on the recommendation. The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occ...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—When it comes to Israel, Democrats and Republicans simply do not see eye to eye, and for all their love of Zion, evangelicals will turn out for a candidate who is less than 100 percent on the issue. Welcome to the 2016 presidential election, when the conventional pro-Israel wisdom has been turned upside down. For years it was sacrosanct that whatever else divides the parties, backing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s line on Israel unites them. And Republicans who want to be elected better count on eva...
WORCESTER, MA-Clark University announced that the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies is curating a unique online Holocaust exhibit and teaching materials based on over 1,000 letters written between parents and their children who were separated during the Holocaust. In the late 1930s, as anti-Semitism grew, many Jewish parents sent their children to other European countries to enhance their safety. When the war began and civilian mail between Axis and Allied countries ceased,...
Iowa on Wednesday became the latest U.S. state to pass legislation designed to undermine the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. In a 38-9 vote with three excused absences, the Iowa Senate passed one of the strongest anti-BDS bills in the country. While all nine "no" votes came from Democrats, that party controls the State Senate with a 26-24 majority. The prospective law would prohibit both investment and contracting by the so-called "Hawkeye State" with companies...
Over the past few years, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has been making headlines-but not only for academic or athletic achievement. Acts of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism have been rampant among the school's press clippings, adding UCLA to the long list of American colleges that have made many Jewish students feel unwelcome and, at times, fearful to be on campus. For the past few weeks, anti-Israel forces have staged Israeli Apartheid Week, an annual global event on 150...
Ninety percent of Congress sent a clear message to President Obama—back Israel. House Republicans and Democrats united in urging President Barack Obama to reject any one-sided actions by the United Nations attempting to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that are biased against Israel, a move Obama is reportedly considering. In a letter sent to Obama on Thursday, authored by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) and signed by 394, including Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, House members warned that one-sided initiatives may come up at the U.N. in the c...
The United States Postal Service describes the stamp. The 2016 Hanukkah stamp features a holiday menorah in the window of a home. Artist William Low added visual interest to the scene by highlighting the contrast between the hot candles flames and the cool snow, the vertical candles and the horizontal window frame, and the dark menorah with brightly lit candles. Bhel Kessler was the art director." The 2016 Hanukkah stamp should be issued sometime in October....
JERUSALEM (JTA)-It might appear churlish to criticize the teaching of Islamic studies in America. After all, "Between Sharia and Democracy: Islamic Education in North America," a just-released study by Impact-SE, finds that the most widely used Islamic textbooks published in the United States are generally free of imagery and ideologies that generate prejudice or contempt for others. They aim to present Islam as harmonious with many aspects of Western society and, in the main, with UNESCO's...
Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn), joined by Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Queens) and Sen. Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn), called for the “immediate suspension” of Students for Justice in Palestine from City University of New York college campuses on Tuesday in light of several incidents that have left many Jews feeling fearful and intimidated by the actions of SJP across college campuses nationwide. In writing a letter to CUNY Chancellor James Milliken that garnered the support of 33 elected officials from both Republicans and Democrats, Ass...
(JTA)-When Jews visit the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, they can learn about the two most celebrated members of the tribe who have been inducted into the hallowed museum: Hank "The Hebrew Hammer" Greenberg and Sandy Koufax. Now they'll have the chance to find out about the dozens of other Jews who played in the major leagues or made contributions to the game. Thanks to the effort of a dedicated memorabilia collector, clearly taking Theodor Herzl's legendary words to hea...
