Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(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... Full story
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... Full story
(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... Full story
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... Full story
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... Full story
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... Full story
(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... Full story
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... Full story
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... Full story
(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... Full story
(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... Full story
(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... Full story
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... Full story
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... Full story
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... Full story
(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... Full story
WARSAW, Poland (JTA)—Staffers at the Auschwitz museum found a gold ring hidden in a false bottom of one of the cups on display in the main exhibition. During conservation work on one of the enamel mugs, a double, or false, bottom was discovered, the museum said in a statement this week. Inside the false bottom, the staffers discovered a women’s gold ring and a gold chain. Both items were tested and the lab determined, based on the properties of the gold, they were likely made in Poland between 1921 and 1931. “The hiding of valuable items... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)—He was an outspoken politician with little military experience, appointed by a rival and promising to bring a new approach. Current and former officials at the Defense Ministry called his appointment an “enigma,” fretting that “it will take some time until he understands how things work” and that “he’ll have to undergo basic training.” The subject of that criticism wasn’t Avigdor Liberman, the hard-line nationalist with scant army experience who was offered the defense portfolio in a surprise move Wednesday. It was Amir Peretz,... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)-On one hand, most Israelis say their financial situation is good and getting better. On the other hand, they're worried they won't be able to provide for their children. On one hand, they want significantly more government spending in a wide range of public services. On the other hand, they say they pay too many taxes. These are among the confused results of a wide-ranging economic survey obtained by JTA ahead of its publication Tuesday by the Israel Democracy Institute think... Full story
Austrian far-right pol’s narrow loss in presidential runoff provides wake-up call, Jewish groups say (JTA)—European Jewish groups reacted with relief to the victory by a left-wing politician over a far-right candidate in Austria’s presidential elections. Alexander van der Bellen, an environmentalist with a pro-refugee agenda, won with 50.3 percent of the vote on Sunday, despite early reports predicting victory for Norbert Hofer of the Austrian Freedom Party party, or FPO, in the runoff, the BBC reported. Hofer had 49.7 percent of the vote.... Full story
When it comes to the security situation at Israel's borders in recent years, no border has been more perilous for the Jewish state as its southern boundary with the Gaza Strip. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the Palestinian terror group Hamas seized control of the coastal enclave in 2007. Since then, Gaza has given Israel three wars, thousands of rocket attacks, and a network of cross-border terror tunnels that Hamas is now trying to rebuild. Since the conclusion of the... Full story
KRAKOW, Poland-More than 10,000 young adults from 42 countries participated in the 28th Annual March of the Living through Auschwitz-Birkenau, the world's largest Holocaust commemoration. The March brings together both Jews and non-Jews (40-percent of participants) to mark the annual Yom Hashoah-Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day. Included this year were several UCF students and Hillel staff. It was the culmination of a week of events, which included visits to the ghettos, monuments and concentr... Full story
Why should the casual observer care about the seemingly obvious need to prosecute and convict Nazi war criminals, whether it be during the Nuremberg trials of the 1940s or similar proceedings in more recent years? "The Nuremberg trials only convicted the leaders and a relatively small number of people," retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz told JNS.org. "Even for the trials that occurred thereafter, we're talking about just hundreds of people... and for years they were... Full story
(JNS.org) The United States has announced a $50 million humanitarian aid program for the Gaza Strip. According to U.S. officials, the aid—which will be distributed by the U.S. Agency for International Development in conjunction with Catholic Relief Services—will be dispersed over five years to provide basic humanitarian assistance and create jobs. U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem Donald A. Blume said the effort is meant to address “the dire needs that are obvious in Gaza,” the Associated Press reported. The announcement of U.S. aid comes a... Full story
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the 10th-most-admired person in the United States, according to the "World's Most Admired 2016" YouGov poll that gauged the popularity of famous people in 30 different countries. U.S. President Barack Obama topped the chart, Pope Francis came in second, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders was sixth, and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump ranked eighth. Netanyahu ranked higher... Full story
