Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) WASHINGTON-Former New York City Mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg laid out his case to the pro-Israel community on Monday at the annual AIPAC Policy Conference, even calling out one of his rivals, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), by name for skipping the largest gathering of pro-Israel activists. "Bipartisan support for Israel has been a defining feature of American politics since 1948-and this organization has played a crucial role in fostering it," said...
(Jewish Journal via JNS)-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden spoke to attendees of the annual AIPAC Policy Conference in a video address on Sunday, stating that he will always support Israel, but that he also believes in a two-state solution for the Palestinians. Biden said that while he couldn't make the conference because of the ongoing Democratic presidential primary, he had decided to send a video message because AIPAC's "voice matters to me." He also pledged to combat...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Joe Biden made an appearance via video and Mike Bloomberg turned up in person. So did Mike Pence. Even the coronavirus got a shoutout. Despite threats of a boycott by Democrats and anxieties about communicable diseases, this year’s annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was a busy, bustling and bipartisan affair. Still, the names that loomed largest were the ones that did not make an appearance: Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Sanders, the Vermont senator who is currently the front-runner for...
(JNS) DALLAS-Seventeen-year-old Swedish climate-change activist Greta Thunberg was not at BBYO's International Convention here last week, but when her name was mentioned, throngs of teenagers applauded and screamed as if she was. That's because climate-change activism was as much of a theme of the four-day conference as the official one "Tomorrow Happens Here." Avi Garbow, environmental advocate for the sportswear line Patagonia who received the annual STAND UP Award on behalf of the company,...
(JTA)—After weeks of skirting questions about whether he would attend the annual conference held by AIPAC, Bernie Sanders has declared his intentions: No, he won’t go, and not because his schedule won’t allow it. In a two-tweet statement, Sanders said he would skip the conference—a traditional can’t-miss for presidential candidates—because he is “concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights.” “As president, I will support the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians and do every...
(JNS)—Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the frontrunner in the Democratic presidential primary, skipped the annual AIPAC Policy Conference. “The Israeli people have the right to live in peace and security,” said Sanders. “So do the Palestinian people. I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights. For that reason I will not attend their conference,” he tweeted. “As president, I will support the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians and do everything possible to bring pe...
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (JTA)-Two months after his wife was murdered in the attack on this city's only kosher grocery store, owner Moshe Ferencz was back behind the counter this week. The store, which has partially reopened in a new location, still doesn't have regular hours. But the reopening signals an important moment for Jersey City's small but growing community of Orthodox Jews. "Everyone was shocked beyond belief," said Chesky Deutsch, a member of the local Hasidic community who acts as an...
MIAMI BEACH (JTA)-Palm trees line the entrance to the Cuban Hebrew Congregation, where on a recent Saturday morning, about a dozen elderly people gathered for services. Congregants greeted each other in Spanish inside the building, whose Western facade features an impressive Gaudi-esque wall with irregularly shaped stained glass windows. At the front of the sanctuary, the flag of Cuba hung from a pole beside those of Israel and the United States. Cuban Jews founded this congregation in 1961 as i...
This is a developing story. NEW YORK (JTA)—More than 50 Jewish community centers in 23 states have received emailed bomb threats since Saturday. None of the threats have been found to be credible, though local law enforcement agencies have been notified. Officials do not know who sent the threats. They targeted Jewish community centers in New York, New Jersey, California, Texas and elsewhere throughout the country. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has learned from officials familiar with the threats that most of the JCCs affected received identica...
NEW YORK (JTA)-New York City is hoping that a new ad campaign will make Jewish New Yorkers feel comfortable despite a recent spate of anti-Semitic attacks. The campaign, launched Wednesday by the city's Commission on Human Rights, consists of four ads each featuring a photograph of a different Jewish New Yorker and a bold proclamation: "Jewish New Yorkers belong here. Anti-Semitism does not." Ads using text only will appear in three Orthodox publications-Hamodia, Jewish Press and Mishpacha Magaz...
(JNS)-Two U.S. Republican House members visited historic and strategic sites in Judea and Samaria days after the creation of a special "deal of the century" committee to begin mapping out Israeli application of sovereignty in the disputed region. Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), formerly head of the House Freedom Caucus, was joined by Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), a member of the Judiciary Committee and head of the Republican Study Committee, and their wives toured Israel this week on a trip organized...
(JNS)-The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign student president has vetoed a BDS resolution that was passed last Thursday by the student government. The bill will now likely be heard again by the student government, where it will need a two-thirds majority to override the president's veto. The resolution called on the university to divest from "companies that profit from human-rights violations in Palestine and other communities globally," as well as from firms that provide weaponry and...
(JNS)-The anti-Israel group IfNotNow approached the leading Democratic presidential candidates in New Hampshire, ahead of the state's primary on Tuesday, to ask if they will skip the annual AIPAC Policy Conference next month-only to get one commitment so far. That commitment was from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who relayed her decision via an answer to a question by a potential constituent at a town hall in Derry on Feb. 6. "I'm an American Jew, and I'm terrified by the unholy alliance...
(JNS)—AIPAC apologized for and removed at least four ads it sponsored on Facebook that slammed “radicals in the Democratic Party.” “We offer our unequivocal apology to the overwhelming majority of Democrats in Congress who are rightfully offended by the inaccurate assertion that the poorly worded, inflammatory advertisement implied,” said AIPAC in a statement that it shared on Twitter on Saturday. “We deeply appreciate the broad and reliable support that Democrats in Congress have consistently demonstrated for Israel. The bipartisan...
(JTA)-A group of undergraduate students at Harvard University has formed what they call an "anti-Zionist Jewish organization" that supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. The Harvard Jewish Coalition for Peace introduced itself in a public statement posted Monday on Facebook as "a new organization founded in the idea that Jewish liberation is inextricably bound up with the liberation of all people." The group said it will focus on Palestinian solidarity work;...
(JNS)—J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami embraced Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas after the latter made statements at a hotel on Tuesday following his remarks earlier at a U.N. Security Council session, denouncing the Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan. “Absolutely disgusting that @jstreetdotorg’s @JeremyBenAmi would embrace Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas funds terrorists to kill American and Israeli Jews. He is a virulent anti-Semite. Ben Ami isn’t a head of state, he doesn’t have to pretend Abbas is legitimate,” tweeted the Republica...
(JNS)-Former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Democrat, was removed by police from an event earlier this week after interrupting and questioning Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) about her past anti-Semitic remarks. The event at Rutgers University in New Jersey, titled "A Global Crisis: Refugees, Migrants and Asylum Seekers-Lessons from the Prophet Muhammad," was organized by the group Muslims4Peace. "Police just ejected me from an event of @Muslims4Peace at @RutgersU which was a fine event...
(JTA)—One flyer reads “Holocaust = fake news.” Another says “America is not for sale.” And another: “Diversity destroys nations.” These are just a few of the 2,713 pieces of propaganda distributed in the United States by white supremacist groups in 2019, according to a report published Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League. The flyers, posters and bumper stickers—many using traditional American color schemes and iconography to advance racist, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ ideas—appeared in every state except Hawaii and touched hundreds of colle...
(JNS)—Responding to a New York Times survey last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pledged to reverse U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision in November on Israeli settlements, while former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg would keep the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Warren said that “the continued expansion of Israeli settlements and the increasing normalization of proposals for Israel to annex parts or all of the West Bank are the most immediate dangers to the two-state solution.” “I will reverse the Trump administration’s new policy on...
(JNS)—After more than six hours of deliberation, the student government at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign passed a BDS resolution in the early hours on Thursday morning that calls on the university to divest from “companies that profit from human-rights violations in Palestine and other communities globally,” as well as from firms that provide weaponry and technology to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a copy of the resolution obtained by JNS ahead of the vote, which includes endorsements from the stude...
By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA)—A Minnesota congresswoman called AIPAC a “hate group” inciting against her after the Israel lobby featured her in an attack ad. “AIPAC claims to be a bipartisan organization, but its use of hate speech actually makes it a hate group,” U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat, said Wednesday in a statement. “By weaponizing anti-Semitism and hate to silence debate, AIPAC is taunting Democrats and mocking our core values.” The American Israel Public Affairs Committee declined to comment. The lobby removed and apologize...
(JNS)—About 100 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday expressing their “strong disapproval” of his Mideast peace plan, the details of which were released on Jan. 28. The congressional members said the proposal will push the two sides towards additional conflict in that the plan gives the Jewish state a “license to violate international law” by annexing settlements in the West Bank, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Jewish Insider. The letter was spearheaded by Reps....
(JTA)—Bernie Sanders has narrowly won the New Hampshire Democratic primary, racking up additional delegates in his quest to become the nation’s first Jewish president. Sanders, a Vermont senator, was declared the winner late Tuesday with 26% of the vote and more than 90% of precincts reporting. The victory, notched against a crowded field, was a far cry from the decisive win he delivered against Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire in 2016. The victory comes a week after a glitch-filled caucus in Iowa meant that Sanders missed out on becoming the f...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Sen. Elizabeth Warren indicated she would skip the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC's conference next month and did not push back against questionable assertions about the lobby from a questioner at a campaign event in New Hampshire. In a sign of how the lobby has become a political lightning rod for Democrats, Warren answered "yeah" when asked if she was planning to skip the conference in Washington in March. "I'm an American Jew and I'm terrified by the unholy alliance that AIPAC is...
(JNS)-The student government at the University of California, Berkeley, erupted into chaos on Monday, delaying a vote on a measure to censure a display by a pro-Palestinian student group. The Associated Students of the University of California Senate's University and External Affairs Committee met to debate student Milton Zerman's resolution titled "Condemning Bears for Palestine for Their Display in Eshleman Hall Glorifying Violent Terrorists." In December, the student group Bears for Palestine...
