Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Since taking office in 2009, President Barack Obama’s relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been fraught with tension. Even within the framework of that tension, strong American military aid for Israel has been a constant during the Obama years. But during the last few weeks, that support has been called into question by the White House’s expression of opposition to additional funding for Israel’s highly touted missile defense systems. In a statement published June 14 by the White House’s Office of Management and Bud...
Abbas walks back claim that Israeli rabbis called to poison Palestinian water JERUSALEM (JTA)—Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas walked back his claim that Israeli rabbis had called for the poisoning of Palestinian water and said he did not intend to offend Jewish people. “After it has become evident that the alleged statements by a rabbi on poisoning Palestinian wells, which were reported by various media outlets, are baseless, President Mahmoud Abbas has affirmed that he didn’t intend to do harm to Judaism or to offend Jewish peopl...
A newly released 10-minute online video produced by the Jerusalem-based Center for Near East Policy Research says that many of the Palestinians who have murdered Israelis during the so-called "stabbing intifada," which began in September 2015, were educated in schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Titled "The UNRWA road to terror: Palestinian classroom incitement," the video claims that the current wave of violence was not...
(JNS.org)—World Jewish groups and Israeli leaders condemned the terror attack on Sunday, June 12, inside the LGBT nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Fla., in which a terrorist shot and killed at least 49 people and wounded 53 others. In what was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, 29-year-old terrorist Omar Mateen dialed 911 during the attack to express support for the Islamic State terror group as he used an assault rifle to gun down the victims. “On behalf of world Jewry, I condemn this horrific act of terror and wish to express the Jew...
(JNS.org) Israel is reportedly set to build a massive underground and aboveground concrete wall around the Gaza Strip in order to prevent infiltration by Hamas terrorists using cross-border attack tunnels. The wall, which will cost around NIS 2.2 billion ($567 million), will stretch along Israel’s entire 60-mile border with Gaza and will be built tens of meters under and above ground, according to Yedioth Ahronoth. “We have no desire to rule over Gaza, and as long as there is no alternative government there, we have no business being the...
Once controlling an empire spanning every continent, the United Kingdom has been undergoing an identity crisis in recent years. In 2014, Scotland, which has been part of the United Kingdom for over 300 years, held a referendum on whether to remain part of the country. Now in 2016, after years of discontent with the European Union (EU), the British people will decide on whether or not to leave the 28-country bloc in a June 23 referendum. For the British-Jewish community, which has faced growing...
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org)—At a meeting of Likud party ministers on Monday, June 13, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced questions regarding the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, two weeks after saying the initiative included some “positive elements” and that Israel is “willing to negotiate with Arab states’ revisions to that initiative so that it reflects the dramatic changes in the region since 2002.” One Likud minister asked Netanyahu what he would do if Arab states were not willing to revise the initiative. “If the Ara...
Donald Trump praises Israel’s racial profiling, calls for same in U.S. (JTA)—Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested that the United States use racial profiling like Israel to prevent mass attacks like the one in Orlando. “Well I think profiling is something that we’re going to have to start thinking about as a country,” Trump told the CBS news show “Face the Nation” on Sunday in a telephone interview. “Other countries do it, you look at Israel and you look at others, they do it and they do it successfully. And I hate...
Omar Mateen had left a long and worrisome trail much before he stunned the world with the mass murder of 49 men and women at an Orlando nightclub For the past nine years, the 29-year-old New York-born resident of Ft. Pierce, Fla., worked as a security officer for the G4S company in the town of Jupiter, during which time, it appears, he managed to spook many of his co-workers, numerous acquaintances and his Internet bride. "When I saw his picture on the news, I thought, 'Of course, he did...
(JTA)-Here a plan, there a plan, everywhere a peace plan. Conditions in Israel and the Palestinian Authority may not exactly seem conducive to peace-Israel just formed what may be its most right-wing government ever, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is aging and becoming less popular. Yet peace plans have been coming at the region from all sides. No less than three Israeli-Palestinian peace proposals have been put forward in recent weeks, spanning a range of countries, leaders...
By Alina Dain Sharon JNS.org After four Israelis were killed on June 8 in a Palestinian terrorist shooting at the Sarona market in Tel Aviv, many international media outlets came under fire for initially reporting misleading information about the attack and in some cases not describing the shooting as terrorism. While many such news headlines and article texts were later amended, the original phrasing has continued to circulate on social media and on the websites of media watchdog...
(JNS.org)-Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is in Israel for a week-long visit to strengthen relations between the two countries. "Throughout my visit with my delegation we wanted to learn about the extraordinary developments which Israel has made, especially in agriculture, which we look at with wonder each time we see it. You have done wonderful things in the field of water. There are a lot of similarities between Liberia and Israel. I wish to thank Israel for its help during our Ebola...
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued the first executive order in the country that forces state entities to drop investments linked to boycotts of Israel. The Democratic governor expects state agencies to divest all public funds from any company or individual with ties to the movement known as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). BDS was founded in 2005 to protest Israel's actions toward Palestinians by boycotting Israeli products and companies. Cuomo says New York will boycott anyone who is...
PARIS (JTA)-When David Harroch moved from his native Morocco to France 12 years ago, he found a vibrant Jewish scene with a plethora of activities for young adults like himself. The social circle was something of a lifeline for Harroch, 30, an introverted finance executive who left home to study in France. With neither childhood friends nor family here, he relied on community events to find companionship and the occasional date. But he arrived at a time of change for Parisian Jewry, as many...
Maroon 5’s Adam Levine offers to pay funeral expenses for slain singer Christina Grimmie (JTA)—Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine has offered to pay for the funeral for slain singer Christina Grimmie. Grimmie’s brother, Marcus, announced Monday in a post on his Facebook page that Levine—Grimmie’s coach on the sixth season of “The Voice”—had offered to pay for the cost of the funeral and flying her body home from Orlando, Florida, where she was killed Friday by a deranged fan while she was signing autographs following a concert. He also said a GoF...
(JNS.org)—After ordering to dissolve the country’s parliament on Sunday, Jordan’s King Abdullah II appointed a politician known for his strong ties to Israel as the new Jordanian prime minister, Al Jazeera reported. Although Jordan’s government has a peace treaty with Israel, a majority of the outgoing Jordanian parliament’s members held anti-Israel views. But the newly appointed prime minister, Hani Mulki, chaired the Jordanian government committee that negotiated peace with Israel from 1994-1996. He is expected to now join the effort to...
One report says the Obama administration will soon get "tougher" with Israel over an alleged surge of Jewish settlement construction. Another report says Israel is currently halting new settlement construction. What's the real story? The Associated Press (AP), citing three anonymous American diplomats, reported last month that the U.S. plans to sign a new Middle East Quartet document aligning its criticism of Israel's construction policies with those of mediator partners including the European U...
Member of Knesset Michael Oren (Kulanu), the self-described "resident old man," surveys the scene unfolding before his eyes with growing astonishment. Seven-hundred pounds of grilling meat, 20 bags of charcoal, 150 gallons of Negev beer, and 600 new immigrants from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, France, Chile, Japan, Ukraine, Russia, South Africa, India, Greece, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Venezuela, and Guatemala, all coming together last week to...
(JTA)—Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Israel has a right to be protected by the United States. Sanders, who has spoken out in favor of Palestinian interests as well as Israel’s right to exist in security, made the assertion last Sunday during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I am 100 percent pro-Israel in the sense of Israel’s right to exist,” Sanders said. “I lived in Israel, I have family in Israel, Israel has the right to live not only in peace and security, but to know that their very existence will be...
(JNS.org) Despite ongoing security threats and regional instability, Israelis can expect to live well into their 80s, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) newly released global report on life expectancy. Japan has the world’s highest average life expectancy—nearly 84 years—followed by Switzerland, Singapore, Australia, and Spain. Israel came in sixth. The shortest life expectancy belongs to Sierra Leone, with women in that country only expected to live to about 51 years and men about 59 years. Israelis can expect an average lifesp...
(JTA)—Ahead of the 50th anniversary of Israel’s reunification of Jerusalem, the Cabinet allocated an extra $220 million for a plan that encourages the city’s high-tech industry. “This is almost NIS 1 billion that we are investing in the development of Jerusalem, in technology and in companies,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday about the Jubilee Plan, a five-year project initiated last year. “The face of Jerusalem is changing. There is an interesting technological development here,” he said, adding that the Israeli capital is no...
UNITED NATIONS (JTA)—It was an incongruous sight: The U.N. General Assembly hall filled to capacity with 1,500 cheering people waving miniature Israeli flags and singing “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem. No, hell hadn’t frozen over. The occasion was a one-day conference hosted by Israel’s U.N. mission devoted to fighting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against the Jewish state. It turns out any U.N. member state can reserve space at the world body’s headquarters in New York—even the iconic General Assembly hall—for events...
Muhammad Ali pleaded for Daniel Pearl’s life LOS ANGLES (JTA)—When Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped by Islamic extremists in January 2002, the most famous American Muslim of the day, Muhammad Ali, pleaded publicly for his release and life. “I appeal to you to show Daniel Pearl compassion and kindness,” Ali implored Pearl’s abductors, who would behead the journalist in Pakistan after nine days of captivity, although his fate would not be known for another three weeks. “Treat him as you would wish all Muslims to be treat...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-In a rare and sharp split with Israeli government policy, a group of Jewish community leaders want to get a proposal for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the next president's desk. Two complementary U.S. and Israeli working papers to be launched next week propose immediate actions Israel can take to prepare the ground for two states and a longer-term security structure that aims to satisfy Palestinian ambitions for sovereignty and Israeli security need...
(JTA)—Belgium has turned down a request for financial assistance from the daughters of an Israeli couple killed in an attack a year ago on the Jewish Museum in Brussels. Shira and Ayelet Riva were 15 and 17 at the time of the attack in May 2015. Mira and Emmanuel Riva were on vacation and touring the museum when Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman who French authorities believe left for Syria via Belgium to fight with jihadists in 2012 before returning to Europe, opened fire on museum visitors and staff. Along with the Rivas, a French volunteer at t...
