Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — Between 2017 and 2022, 92.82 percent of the articles in leading U.S. college newspapers that strayed from journalistic objectivity were anti-Israel, according to a report from Alums for Campus Fairness. ACF surveyed 75 leading college and university newspapers. Of all the articles about Israel exhibiting a bias, 181 were biased against Israel and 14 portrayed it positively. Coverage spiked during periods of tension between Israel and Hamas, including in November 2018, May 2019, November 2019 and May 2021. There is an intense fixation o...
(JTA) – It seemed like a headline out of the 19th century: a warning of “Jew-free zones” at the University of California-Berkeley. That’s the phrase being employed by some prominent pro-Israel groups this week to describe a dispute at UC Berkeley’s law school, where nine student groups recently voted to adopt by-laws that state they will not invite any visiting speakers to campus who “hold views in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine.” But is the “Jew-free” label accurate? Not according to Jewi...
(JTA) — October is a busy month for U.S. sports fans. The MLB playoffs get underway, the NBA season begins, the NFL season kicks into high gear and both the women’s and men’s pro soccer leagues start their postseasons, too. Sometimes another milestone gets hidden under the headlines of it all: the start of the NHL season. The first puck drops on Friday, ironically in Prague, in a match between the Nashville Predators and the San Jose Sharks. (The first stateside games start on Tuesday night.) Another phenomenon that hasn’t been widely covered...
(JTA) – Three Jewish women have sued to protest Kentucky’s restrictive abortion laws on religious freedom grounds, arguing that they violate Jewish teachings as to when life begins and place undue burdens on their ability to use in vitro fertilization to achieve pregnancy. The suit is at least the third religious freedom lawsuit to be filed by Jews against a state abortion restriction since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this summer. It follows a synagogue’s challenge to Florida’s laws and a Jewish pro-choice group’s lawsuit i...
(JNS) — The City University of New York has reversed course after it assigned a former employee of a vehemently anti-Israel NGO to investigate allegations of anti-Zionist discrimination. The probe came at the request of Prof. Jeffrey Lax, chair of the business department at CUNY’s Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn. He alleged pervasive discrimination and harassment against Zionists and Jews on campus, as well as retaliation and a hostile work environment created by Kingsborough President Claudia Schrader. Lax’s complaint came as Kings...
(JTA) — The holiest day of the Jewish calendar couldn’t come at a worse time for Michigan public schools this year. Yom Kippur falls on Oct. 5 — which is also the state’s “student count day,” the one day a year when the number of students who attend school determines how much that district will receive in state funds the following year. By Michigan law, count day is on the first Wednesday of October, and superintendents typically go to great lengths to entice students to attend. Districts have coaxed students to attend on the days using raffles...
By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA) — Democrats on the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted to name as chairman of its influential Middle East subcommittee Rep. David Cicilline, a Jewish Rhode Islander who is a member of the party’s Progressive Caucus. Cicilline bested Brad Schneider, a moderate Jewish Illinois Democrat, in an 18-6 vote. Cicilline and Schneider are both close to the mainstream pro-Israel community and are both endorsed by the American Israel Public Aff...
(JTA) – Progressive Jewish leaders have launched a new think tank meant to counter what its founders see as an effort by a few billionaires to flood the Jewish world with conservative ideas. Emor, the Institute for Bold Jewish Thought, is a project of T'ruah, an advocacy organization of rabbis dedicated to promoting human rights and social justice. In Hebrew, "emor" is a directive meaning "speak." The think tank will fund research, host events with scholars, and publish essays that draw on J...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The lawmakers thanked the representatives from the social networks giants for attending the Capitol Hill hearing on antisemitism — after all, it was not an official congressional hearing and no one was obliged to turn up. But then, after some tense exchanges last Friday, things got acrimonious quickly: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Jewish Florida Democrat who convened the hearing, said that the tech reps’ stonewalling on whether and how antisemitism would be treated will lead to congressional action. “We’re all start...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s an argument that has percolated for years in salons and on social media and now members of Congress are duking it out: What fits better into the “progressive” portmanteau, supporting or opposing Israeli policies? Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat who is Palestinian American and who is the only member of Congress who opposes Israel’s self-definition as a Jewish state, said Tuesday that there was no room in the progressive movement for supporters of what she called Israel’s “apartheid” government. “I want you all...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Joe Biden is bringing a Jewish High Holiday celebration to the White House for the first time. His White House is hosting a Rosh Hashanah reception tonight, Sept. 30, Jewish Insider reported on Monday. As vice president during the 2009-2017 Obama administration, Biden hosted Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot receptions at the Naval Observatory, the official vice presidential residence, the first vice president to do so. President Bill Clinton was the first president to host a Chanukah party for staff, and President George W....
(JNS) — The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., is opening a new exhibition with unprecedented access to the life, culture and history of the Samaritans, a 2,000-year-old community. Beginning on Sept. 16 and running through Jan. 1, it was created in partnership with the Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies under the direction of Steven Fine, the Dean Pinkhos Churgin Chair in Jewish History. A panel discussion and documentary are part of the opening events. The Samaritans have lived in the Land of Israel, beside their sacred m...
(JTA) — Robert Sarver, the Jewish owner of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, announced Wednesday that he will seek buyers for the two franchises as he serves his one-year suspension for misconduct. Sarver, a real estate businessman with a net worth of nearly $1 billion who purchased the teams in 2004, received the NBA’s maximum fine of $10 million after an investigation found a pattern of inappropriate and abusive behavior including racist remarks and sexual harassment toward employees. Sarver reportedly used the N-word multipl...
(JTA) – The Anti-Defamation League says it will “launch a thorough review” of its educational content to address materials “misaligned with” the organization’s values after Fox News published a story accusing the anti-hate group of including “concepts from critical race theory” and “far-left ideas.” The ADL’s statement, released in response to a Fox News story published Wednesday afternoon, did not specify which of its freely available education materials were cause for review; nor did an additional ADL statement provided to the Jewish Telegra...
(JTA) — The 103rd season of the National Football League kicks off on Thursday, and there are a number of Jewish players to keep an eye on this year. These are all of the Jewish players on NFL rosters entering Week 1 (listed in alphabetical order) and a few free agents who hope to return to the action soon. Did we miss anyone? Give us a shout at sports@jta.org. • Jake Curhan, Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle This Jewish summer camp alum and self-described “Bear Jew” — possibly a reference to “Inglorious Basterds,” or his 6-foot-6 and...
(New York Jewish Week) — NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a press conference on Monday evening that the police will increase patrols near synagogues in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, due to an increase in antisemitic attacks happening throughout the neighborhood. “In the wake of these senseless attacks, we deployed round-the-clock house of worship cars to routinely visit synagogues,” Sewell said at the press conference on Lynch Street in Brooklyn — the same location where a suspect allegedly slapped a 27-year-old man dressed in traditional Or...
(JNS) — The question of whether America’s oldest Jewish university must recognize an LGBTQ club is now heading to the Supreme Court. New York City-based Yeshiva University filed an emergency request on Monday to stay a lower court ruling that it must immediately endorse the YU Pride Alliance student club. In June, the New York County Supreme Court ruled in favor of the students, stating that Yeshiva University does not qualify as a “religious institution.” The court pointed to organizational documents in which the university states that it...
(JTA) - "Whoever needs, come and eat." That's the quote from the Talmud - the book of Jewish law - that welcomes customers to Goldie's Bagels in Columbia, Missouri, telling them that people who cannot afford to pay can get a coffee and a bagel, with cream cheese, free of charge. The promise is core to the shop's mission: Launched as a popup in 2020, Goldie's aims to imbue Jewish values into its daily operations. "My whole thing in opening Goldie's is we're going to be so outwardly proud to be...
(JTA) — A Jewish Google employee who led activism against a major contract with Israel’s government resigned, citing what she said was retaliation. “Due to retaliation, a hostile environment, and illegal actions by the company, I cannot continue to work at Google and have no choice but to leave the company at the end of this week,” Ariel Koren said in a statement posted Aug. 30 to Medium. “Instead of listening to employees who want Google to live up to its ethical principles, Google is aggressively pursuing military contracts and stripping away...
(JTA) — Pro-Israel PACs reported millions of dollars in donations in August, including from billionaire donors with long track records of giving to Israel-related causes. Kraft Group LLC, the company owned by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, gave $1 million to the United Democracy Project, the new super PAC affiliated with AIPAC, the powerhouse Israel lobby. George Soros’ Democracy PAC donated the same amount to the J Street Action Fund, the PAC affiliated with the liberal pro-Israel lobby. Kraft, a prolific donor to Jewish causes who...
(JTA) — The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s student newspaper pulled a column that criticizes students who travel to Israel after its author says he and his mother have received threats in response to the article. The column, titled “When studying abroad becomes a political statement,” was published on Wednesday and pulled on Sunday. “To disagree with the outcome of an individual’s work is one thing,” wrote Guillermo Molero, editor-in-chief of the Daily Tar Heel, in a statement explaining the retraction. “But to harass people p...
(JTA) – CNN's Dana Bash has what she calls "a very, very Jewish response" to the question of why she's hosting a special for her network on antisemitism in America. "The bad news is there is antisemitism in America," Bash told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. "The good news is I work in a place that wants to shine a spotlight on it, and allow for an investigation into what is happening, why it's happening and what are the solutions." Bash, a member of Temple Micah in Washington, D.C., is the g...
(New York, N.Y., JNS Wire) - In an effort to expose and combat antisemitism in higher education across the United States, watchdog group StopAntisemitism.org will release a report in September on the rise of Jew-hatred at colleges and universities across the United States - grading 25 different schools on their commitment and efforts to preventing and responding to antisemitic incidents and behaviors on their respective campuses. "StopAntisemitism is authoring this report in response to the rise...
(JNS) - Internationally acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie, who had a fatwa (religious edict) placed on him by Iran since the late 1980s, was stabbed on Friday as he took the stage during a speaking engagement in western New York, less than an hour from Lake Erie. During a press conference later in the afternoon, New York State Police identified the attacker as 24-year-old Hadi Matar, of Fairview, N.J., who it said stabbed Rushdie in the neck and at least twice in the abdomen. The police said...
(JTA) — The passage of a milestone climate bill in Congress on Friday means major progress on a policy issue that American Jews rank above all others in recent surveys of voter priorities. While climate change is not often pegged as a Jewish issue, a set of poll results suggest concern about it is nearly a consensus in the community. Already eight years ago, a survey from the nonpartisan group Public Religion Research Institute found that a far larger percentage of American Jews believed that climate change was a concern than Americans as a w...
