Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Trump administration to host White House seder (JTA)—The Trump administration will host a Passover seder at the White House. The Jewish Insider first reported over the weekend that the seder is set to take place on Monday night, citing unnamed sources at the White House. An administration official on Sunday confirmed to The Times of Israel news website that the seder would take place. It is not known whether President Donald Trump or his Jewish daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will participate in the White House seder, a...
(JTA)-Five days after a municipal truck plowed through a Jewish cemetery near Paris in what authorities said was a freak accident, Isabelle Zenou arrived at the scene of the incident with a camera-and a theory. The March 20 devastation of 13 gravestones in the suburb of Pantin was not an anti-Semitic attack, according to city officials, France's CRIF umbrella of Jewish communities and even the country's chief rabbi. The driver drove over 13 headstones after losing control of his vehicle, the...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The Trump administration will not allow a repeat of last year's United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel for its settlements, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told AIPAC. "Never again do what we saw with resolution 2334 and make anyone question our support" for Israel, Haley said Monday at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, where she earned the warmest reception of any speaker with an extended standing ovation. The Obama...
Jewish center in Sweden decides to close after anti-Semitic threats (JTA)—A Jewish center in northern Sweden will close after receiving anti-Semitic threats. The members of the Judisk Föreningen, or Jewish Association, in Umea, decided Sunday at a meeting to shut down its building and end its activities, The Local-Sweden reported. The association has received threatening emails, and the building was vandalized with stickers of swastikas and spray-painted threats such as “we know where you live,” The Local reported, citing the Swedis...
A Jewish teenager with dual Israeli and American citizenship living in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon was arrested March 23 in connection with the wave of more than 100 bomb threats against JCCs and other Jewish institutions across North America since the beginning of 2017. The suspect, 19, was arrested by Israel's Lahav 433 police unit in the wake of a months-long investigation by Israeli authorities, who worked alongside the FBI and other international law enforcement agencies....
NEW YORK (JTA)—Many Jewish groups blamed white supremacists, emboldened by Donald Trump’s campaign, for the bomb threats that have plagued Jewish institutions since the beginning of this year. It appears the groups were wrong. The news that one Jewish teen—an Israeli, no less—was behind most of the approximately 150 bomb threats that have hit Jewish community centers since the start of 2017 is a shocking twist in light of months in which the Anti-Defamation League and other groups pointed their collective finger at the far right. “We’re...
JERUSALEM—More Palestinians in east Jerusalem are applying for Israeli citizenship in hopes of swapping their vulnerable status as mere city residents for the rights and ease of travel that come with an Israeli passport. But after long touting its offer of citizenship to them, Israel is now dragging its feet in granting it, those who track Palestinian applicants say. Lawyers said their Palestinian clients now wait months for an appointment with the Interior Ministry and an average of three years for a decision. Israeli officials denied they w...
TEL AVIV (JTA)-"Vamos!" "Pass it!" "Ladrao!" For most of the match on a local field Friday, the Inter Aliyah Club soccer players speak a variety of languages. But when the ball hits the back of the opposing team's net, they join in soccer's universal victory cry: "Goooal!" Inter Aliyah, a team of Jewish immigrants to Israel mostly from Europe and South America, is playing its first season in the national soccer league. Bonded by their immigration experience and a love of soccer, the players...
Israel Police arrest 22 haredi Orthodox men accused of sex crimes JERUSALEM (JTA)—Police arrested 22 haredi Orthodox men in four Israeli cities who are suspected of sex crimes against women and minors over the past two years but were sheltered by religious leaders. The men, aged 20-60, were arrested Monday morning in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Betar Illit and Bnei Brak, all cities with large haredi populations. Residents of the communities tried to prevent the arrests, throwing rocks and other projectiles, damaging some police cars. The police p...
(JTA)—A United Nations affiliate removed a report accusing Israel of apartheid from the Internet following a request from the secretary-general of the international body. Antonio Guterres asked the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, or EWCWA, to remove the report, which was published Wednesday and says it “establishes, on the basis of scholarly inquiry and overwhelming evidence, that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid,” Reuters reported Friday. Rima Khalaf, the commission’s chief, resigned because of Guttere...
Just one drop of blood can tell within minutes if a patient has had a heart attack thanks to a revolutionary kit developed in Israel that is already saving hospitals time and money. More important, it can save lives. A health professional needs only one drop of blood to let a patient know if a heart attack has occurred. If two stripes appear on the kit, the result is positive and the patient must immediately receive additional care. The test is easy, noninvasive and takes less than 15 minutes to perform. One in three Israelis appears in...
Ohio State Hillel drops Jewish LGBT group for co-sponsoring event by pro-BDS group (JTA)—Ohio State University’s Hillel cut ties with a Jewish LGBTQ student group for co-sponsoring an event organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization that supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. The divorce is the latest flare-up in an ongoing dispute among campus Jewish groups over Hillel International guidelines rejecting partnerships with groups deemed hostile toward Israel. Ohio State Hillel ended its affiliation with the LGBTQ gro...
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has significantly stepped up the scope and frequency of its combat training, as sub-state jihadist enemies around the Jewish state build up their power. In the event of any future large-scale conflict-whether it be against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and possibly in Syria, where Hezbollah has a heavy presence; against Hamas in Gaza; or against other foes in other arenas-Israeli military planners believe they will need a ground offensive involving maneuvering...
Israel's Knesset last week passed landmark legislation against the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, representing just one of several setbacks this month for BDS around the world. The Israeli bill, which passed its third and final reading with a 46-28 vote, grants the interior minister authority to deny entry visas to non-Israeli citizens who actively support boycotts of the Jewish state. Conveying the rationale for the anti-BDS measure, Member of Knesset David...
(JNS.org) The Israeli government voted in favor of decriminalizing recreational marijuana use, joining several other European countries and U.S. states that have adopted similar measures. At Israel's weekly cabinet meeting Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a team of experts had studied the issue and that "this obviously needs to be done in a careful and controlled manner." "On one hand, we are opening ourselves up to the future. On the other hand, we understand the dangers and...
At least 7 JCCs receive bomb threats on Purim (JTA)—At least seven Jewish community centers in the United States and Canada received bomb threats while they were hosting Purim events. The threats, either called in or emailed, were reported Sunday at JCCs in Rochester, New York; Chicago; Indianapolis; Milwaukee; Cleveland; Houston, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Most of the JCCs were evacuated and searched. None of the threats turned out to be credible. For some of the centers it was their second threat in the past week. The threats are p...
The most recent round of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations failed because the Palestinian Authority (PA) responded to each Israeli concession with new demands and the Obama administration kept taking the Palestinians’ side, according to a veteran Israeli negotiator. Brigadier-General (ret.) Michael Herzog, a member of Israel’s negotiating teams since 1993, disclosed previously unknown details about the U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian talks that took place in 2013-2014, in an essay for The American Interest Feb. 27. Herzog disputed claims by for...
TEL AVIV (JTA)-Every week, thousands of women across Israel gather to play a sport almost no one outside the country has heard of. For that matter, few Israelis knew about catchball, or "cadur-reshet" in Hebrew, a decade ago. But in recent years it has become the most popular sport among adult women in the country, with nearly all the players over 30 years old. "It's like a disease among middle-aged women here," said Naor Galili, the director-general of the Maccabi sports association in Israel....
Palestinian man alleged to be part of terror cell killed in shootout with Israeli troops JERUSALEM (JTA)—A Palestinian man who allegedly was part of a terror cell planning attack on Israeli targets was killed in a gunfight with Israeli troops in the West Bank. Basel al-A’araj was killed overnight Monday during an IDF arrest raid in Ramallah in the northern West Bank. Al-A’araj, 31, was shot and killed by Israeli troops after they surrounded the house where he was holed up in order to arrest him. He opened fire on the troops, according to the I...
Jewish journalist sticks up for Trump after being called a ‘liar’ (JTA)—The Jewish reporter whom President Donald Trump interrupted and accused of lying at a news conference defended Trump’s actions as owing to a misunderstanding. Jake Turx, a reporter for Ami Magazine, told Fox News that he believed Trump acted defensively to his question about rising anti-Semitism in America because of the “unfair” treatment the president was receiving in the media and allegations connected to anti-Semitism. “It’s very unfair what’s been done to him and I...
(JNS.org) A senior Iranian official warned Saturday that if the U.S. launches an attack on Iran, his country could hit the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv in a matter of minutes. “If the enemy chooses to shoot a missile in Iran’s direction, Tel Aviv will go up in flames from an Iranian missile before the [enemy’s] missile hits its target. This is not just a slogan, as only seven minutes are needed for an Iranian missile to hit Tel Aviv,” boasted Mojtaba Zonour, a member of Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. Zonour was also...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Settlement expansion “may not be helpful” in achieving peace, the Trump administration said in its first pronouncement on an issue that has confounded U.S.-Israel relations for decades. The White House announcement Thursday evening comes a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced major settlement building initiatives in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. “While we don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump have been talking each other up plenty since the latter’s election upset in November. But those expecting Trump to turn his kind words and pledges on Israel into fast action may have to be patient. The starkest example of Trump walking back concrete promises is his retreat from what he had indicated during the transition period would be an accelerated push to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. Asked Thursday on the Fox News Channel about whether he would mov...
Large swastika painted on car in Florida Jewish neighborhood (JTA)—A large swastika was spray-painted on the side of a car in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Boca Raton, Florida. The incident occurred early Sunday morning, according to local report. The white swastika took up the entire driver’s-side door of the black Ford Mustang. The owner of the car is a teenager who is visiting Israel, the Miami Herald reported. It is not know if the teen’s visit to Israel made him the intended target. “This is a direct hate message,” Yona Lunger, a...
