Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1493 - 1517 of 1939
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
ATLANTA (JTA)-When Janice Rothschild Blumberg first heard that a bomb threat had hit an Atlanta Jewish center, she had only one thought: "It's happening all over again." Blumberg, 93, remembers her shock in 1958 when white supremacists bombed her synagogue, then called the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation and commonly known as The Temple. The perpetrators, who were never convicted, were believed to be retaliating against the outspoken civil rights advocacy of the synagogue's rabbi, and her husband... Full story
Standing up non-violently to anti-Israel activists on the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) campus in South Africa had a positive effect during “Israeli Apartheid Week” (IAW), and BDS demonstrators folded up their flags and didn’t even show up for the last day of the event. “We are taking a stand and saying, ‘Enough,’” Gilad Kabilo told The Algemeiner reporter Lea Speyer. Kabilo, leader of a group sponsored by StandWithUs, said that the no-show on the last day was because of the strong response of Jewish and pro-Israel students who... Full story
By Ben Sales (JTA)—When Cincinnati’s Mayerson Jewish Community Center was hit with a bomb threat on Jan. 18, Adam Bellows was satisfied with how the staff handled the preschool kids, including his two-year-old son. The kids, said Bellows, had no idea the threat had happened. They were evacuated and taken to a secure location where they watched cartoons. But after he got home, Bellow’s son started having a tough time. He couldn’t sleep, and was scared to return to preschool the next day. “It was hard to see how much it disturbed him,” Bellows sa... Full story
(JTA)—The Federal Communications Commission has granted Jewish Community Centers throughout the country a temporary waiver allowing them to receive caller information, in response to the recent series of bomb threats on the Jewish institutions. The waiver, approved on Friday, comes days after 29 JCCs and Jewish schools across the country received called-in bomb threats, the fifth such incident in less than two months. It was also approved the same day that a St. Louis man was charged for making at least eight bomb threats against Jewish C... Full story
(JTA)—At least 12 Jewish community centers and institutions across North America and four Anti-Defamation League offices have received threats of lethal attack, the sixth such wave since the beginning of the year. As of Tuesday afternoon, March 7, threats had been reported at Jewish institutions in Massachusetts, Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Oregon, Florida, Alabama and at least two community centers in New York, according to Secure Community Network, the security arm of the Jewish Federations of North America. In addition, two threats w... Full story
(JTA)-A swastika was carved onto the doorframe of the Agudath B'nai Israel Synagogue in Lorain, Ohio, a suburb located on the west side of Cleveland. In addition to the swastika, the words "We will rise and gas you," followed by an expletive, also were found on the synagogue. The vandalism at the more than 100-year-old synagogue took place on March 1, though it was first reported on Saturday, March 4. "The act of ignorance, vandalism, and anti-Semitism does not reflect our neighbors in the City... Full story
Federal authorities arrested Juan M. Thompson, a 31-year-old former reporter from St. Louis, Friday in connection with eight bomb threats called into several Jewish institutions over the last month, including the Anti-Defamation (ADL) League, officials said. Thompson, who was fired as a reporter for The Intercept, allegedly made threats to exact revenge against a woman who had ended a romantic relationship with him, according to law enforcement officials. Thompson has also been charged with cybe... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Thanking the FBI and police for the arrest of Juan Thompson, who allegedly made eight bomb threats to Jewish institutions, the Anti-Defamation League called the current wave of anti-Semitic acts "unprecedented." "Law enforcement at all levels is a close friend to the Jewish people in America," Evan Bernstein, ADL's New York regional director, said at a news conference Friday. "Just because there's been an arrest today around our bomb threats does not mean that the threats have... Full story
Nashville, Tennessee—PJTN has launched a national campaign to define and outlaw anti-Semitism, in light of the recent wave of threats and attacks against American Jewish institutions. The “Anti-Semitism Awareness Act” will fortify the U.S. State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism into law, including the demonization, delegitimization and double standards applied to Israel, declaring them as a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. This new legal campaign comes after PJTN watchmen nationwide encouraged the passing of state legisla... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-A Jewish cemetery in Rochester, New York, was vandalized, the third such incident in the United States in less than two weeks. Five headstones were found toppled Thursday morning at the Waad Hakolel Cemetery, also known as the Stone Road Cemetery, in the city in western New York, according to News 10 NBC WHEC. The president of the nonprofit managing the cemetery said he did not want to call the incident a hate crime or anti-Semitism. "I don't want to label it a hate crime. I... Full story
