Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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"You are living in a paradise in comparison to the Syrian people. Shame on you. We are being killed," said Issam Zeitoun, who lives in the Syrian portion of the Golan Heights, in response to Arab-Israeli students who accused him of being a traitor because he was speaking in Israel. Zeitoun was one of two Syrian opposition figures who addressed Israelis Jan. 17 at Hebrew University's Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace in Jerusalem. The Syrians shared their plight and... Full story
Netanyahu and Trump to meet Feb. 15 WASHINGTON (JTA)—President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel will meet in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 15. Trump “looks forward to discussing strategic technological military and intelligence cooperation with the prime minister,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday at the daily briefing for reporters. ”Our relationship with the only democracy in the Middle East is crucial to the security of both our nations,” Spicer said. Netanyahu confirmed and welcomed the invitatio... Full story
(JNS.org) Sunday's Mideast conference in Paris, attended by officials from some 70 countries, concluded that the "two-state solution" is the only way forward to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and warned against unilateral steps by either side. In their final communique, conference participants said they "call on each side... to refrain from unilateral steps that prejudge the outcome of negotiations on final-status issues, including, inter alia, on Jerusalem, borders, security,... Full story
WASHINGTON-American victims of Palestinian terrorism are applauding Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson's criticism of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and are urging him to press the PA to take specific anti-terror steps. During his Senate confirmation hearing Jan. 11, Tillerson said that while the PA has renounced terrorism, "it's one thing to renounce it and another thing to take serious actions to prevent it." He also said Palestinian leaders have to do "something to at least interrupt... Full story
(JNS.org) U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a bill that seeks to cut off funding for the United Nations until U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israel’s settlement policy, is repealed. The bill—titled “The Safeguard Israel Act”—will cut off funding to the U.N. until the president certifies to Congress that Resolution 2334 has been repealed. “Twenty-two percent of the money to fund the U.N. comes from the American taxpayer,” Graham said. “I don’t think it’s a good investment for the America... Full story
In the aftermath of Secretary of State John Kerry's recent speech defending the United Nations Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements and the Obama administration's refusal to veto the resolution, Israeli political figures are increasingly mulling the idea of annexing the West Bank and implementing a "one-state solution" during the incoming Donald Trump era. "The U.N. resolution destroyed any residual chance there might have been to achieve peace with the PLO (Palestine Liberati... Full story
Donald Trump, taking office, pledges to put ‘America first’ (JTA)—President Donald Trump promised to put “America first” in his inaugural address, pledging to prevent other countries from taking advantage of the United States and to return control of the country to its people. Taking office at noon Friday following a tumultuous and divisive presidential campaign, Trump said his term would herald a return of power from the elite in Washington, D.C., to the American people. “Their victories have not been your victories, their triumphs have not be... Full story
(JTA)-Two days after delegates from more than 70 nations attended the Paris summit on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is clear that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was wrong to label the meeting "useless." Admittedly the France-initiated event, which neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority attended, did not change the international community's understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Nor did the gathering take any concrete steps to end the dispute. But it was... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—There’s a striking difference between competing bids in Congress addressing last month’s U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements. It’s not that they differ on the United Nations—the two nonbinding congressional resolutions under consideration condemn the Security Council, as well as the outgoing Obama administration for abstaining and not exercising the U.S. veto. Here’s the difference: Missing from one of the resolutions are the word “two states.” In the other resolution, the two-state outcome feature... Full story
The incoming Donald Trump presidency likely means a sharp break from President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. For Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab countries that have peace treaties with Israel and two of the most reliable U.S. allies in the Middle East, the Trump administration will provide new opportunities and challenges going forward on issues such as Islamic extremism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the status of Jerusalem. Egypt Oren Kessler, an expert on Egypt and deputy director for research at the Foundation for Defense of Dem... Full story
Golf club’s Jews debate admitting Obama over U.N. abstention (JTA)—Members of an exclusive, mostly Jewish golf club in Maryland are debating whether to admit President Barack Obama for membership over his decision to abstain from an anti-settlements vote at the United Nations. While the outgoing president has not indicated whether he will seek a membership at the Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Maryland, some club members were reported to be fiercely opposed to even entertaining the idea, the New York Post reported, citing anonymous sou... Full story
Polish-born American historian Jan T. Gross revealed new historical research about Polish-Jewish relations while speaking to a full house at the Bryan Glazer Family JCC in Tampa. Gross' research claims that Poles killed more Jews than Germans during World War II and his historical book "Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland" has become very controversial. Currently, the Polish government is accusing Gross of "publicly insulting a nation" and threatening to... Full story
(JTA)-Is terrorism softening European attitudes toward Israel? When a Palestinian terrorist used a car to ram and kill an Israeli soldier in eastern Jerusalem in 2014, the European Union urged "restraint" and, without condemning the attack, called it merely "further painful evidence of the need to undertake serious efforts towards a sustainable peace agreement." The statement by EU foreign relations chief Federica Mogherini was "a typical EU reaction, which blames the victim for getting... Full story
(JNS.org)-A truck-ramming attack that killed four Israeli soldiers in their early 20s and injured at least 16 people at a Jerusalem bus stop Sunday was likely carried out by a supporter of the Islamic State terror group, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "We know the identity of the attacker, and according to all the signs he is a supporter of Islamic State," Netanyahu said while visiting the scene of the attack, adding that the terrorist act was similar to truck-rammings in... Full story
A Palestinian driver rammed a truck into a crowd of Israeli soldiers Sunday at the scenic Haas Promenade overlooking Jerusalem's Old City, killing four and injuring 16 others in a terror attack that immediately drew comparisons to recent vehicular attacks in Europe. "This attack is part of the jihad against us, and the [car-ramming] methods that are being employed are part of the same methods that we saw recently in Nice and Berlin," Dr. Mordechai Kedar, senior lecturer in the Department of... Full story
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org)-Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett announced Monday that his party is planning to draft a bill to annex the Jerusalem suburb of Ma'aleh Adumim. The community is located east of Jerusalem, beyond the 1967 lines. Bennett's announcement coincided with a Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting about the application of Israeli sovereignty to Ma'aleh Adumim. "Today, we are continuing along the path of [late Prime Minister] Levi Eshkol, who applied... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-About 200 Jews from around the world toured the West Bank in response to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's recent speech warning of the dangers of settlement expansion. The group, organized on short notice by Miami-based fashion designer Joseph Waks, visited Jewish communities and met with their leaders on Monday, Jan. 2, to show solidarity with the settlement movement. A few dozen of the participants flew in from various countries. Most were foreign citizens living in or... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expects a “new era” when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month. He said as much at a Chanukah candle-lighting ceremony Saturday, where he addressed the United Nations Security Council resolution passed a day earlier against Israeli settlements in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem that the Obama administration declined to veto. “The resolution that was passed at the U.N. yesterday is part of the swan song of the old world that is biased against Israel, but, my friends, we ar... Full story
Jared Kushner to be named Trump White House senior adviser (JTA)—Jared Kushner, the Orthodox Jewish son-in-law of President-elect Donald Trump, will be named senior adviser to the president, Trump transition officials reportedly have confirmed. The official announcement is expected as early as Tuesday, The New York Times and several other major news outlets reported Monday. Citing people close to the transition, the Times reported that Kushner’s title might be adjusted. A front-page article Sunday in the Times reported that Trump transition off... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)-Israel's leading security think tank has published a plan to redraw the map of the West Bank in a bid to consolidate major settlements and prevent the spread of others. The plan, presented Monday to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin as part of the Institute for National Security Studies' yearly strategic survey, calls for the government to allow construction in West Bank settlement blocs and Jerusalem. At the same time, it recommends a halt to construction in the 90 percent of the... Full story
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry slammed the Israeli government over settlement building, warning that the two-state solution is "in jeopardy," in a lengthy speech Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swiftly called "almost as unbalanced" as the United Nations Security Council's recent anti-settlement resolution. "If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or Democratic, it cannot be both, and it won't ever really be at peace," Kerry said in his speech, which... Full story
By Jacob Kamaras JNS.org President Barack Obama sprang his much-anticipated "December surprise" on Israel at the United Nations, capping off 2016 with a bang as it relates to the Gregorian calendar year's major events surrounding the Jewish state. The following are 10 Israel news storylines that defined this past year: U.N. woes The Obama administration chose to abstain from a Dec. 23 vote on a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement construction beyond the 1967... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Emotions are running high following the Obama administration's decision to allow the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution condemning Israeli settlements. Here are seven questions aimed at making sense of what went down and what it could mean moving forward. 1. Did Obama just double down on failed "settlements first" strategy? Listening to President Barack Obama's aides, the decision to allow Friday's U.N. Security Council resolution to pass was a last-gasp move borne out of... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Ahead of the unknowns a Trump administration will bring to American Middle East policy, the Obama administration allowed a bracing reminder on Friday that the international community does not recognize the validity of Israel's presence in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank. The U.S. abstention on the U.N. Security Council vote last week was hardly unprecedented, but neither was it entirely consistent with recent U.S. policy. The Obama administration did not quite endorse... Full story
NETANYA, Israel (JTA)-One fit young soldier scales a rope. Two others practice hand-to-hand combat. A large group marches across the sand. But those were just the inspirational photographs on the walls. The actual soldiers crowded in the one-room building here on the Orde Wingate army base were mostly paunchy middle-aged officers. On a Tuesday morning before sunrise, several dozen of them stood around in socks and workout gear as they prepared to weigh in for a session of Changes in Shape, the... Full story
