Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) —Diplomats in Lausanne, Switzerland, have come to an agreement on a framework accord on Iran’s nuclear program. But even with this agreement, it’s merely a way station toward a comprehensive deal that is due by June 30. The six world powers—the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany—negotiating with Iran managed to reach a final deal, however, Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei still must grant his approval and President Obama will have to overcome opposition in Congress. The deal need not be subject to a congression... Full story
Israel lists its requirements for final nuclear deal with Iran JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel has created a list of requirements it says are needed in a final deal with Iran over its nuclear program. The list was presented Monday by Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s minister of intelligence and strategic affairs, The New York Times reported, to reporters at a hotel in Jerusalem. Steinitz said the modifications to the final agreement, which is scheduled to be finalized by the end of June, will make it more acceptable to Israel. Among the requirements on the lis... Full story
Near the entrance to the city of Ariel in the heart of Samaria lies an Arab strip mall of sorts, where Jews and Palestinians alike can get fruits and vegetables, a car wash, pet supplies, hummus, and falafel. The former mayor of Ariel, Ron Nachman, used to joke that the area is Ariel's "duty-free zone." It's located right on the border of Israeli-controlled and Palestinian-controlled territory, so no one really knows exactly to whom the shop owners pay taxes. Abu Ali, a Palestinian man who owns... Full story
When the champion of the U.S.-Israel alliance sounds the alarm, something about the steadfast allies’ relationship is more contentious than usual. Last week, the staunchly bipartisan American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)—which does not frequently issue public statements, let alone criticize a sitting American president—urged the Obama administration to “recommit to improving” U.S.-Israel ties. AIPAC’s March 19 statement came after White House and State Department representatives dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral and burial in Israel of seven children who died in a house fire in Brooklyn. "God Almighty took seven roses," said their father, Gabriel Sassoon, in a eulogy at a Jerusalem cemetery on Monday afternoon, according to Ynet. "He took my children and my future grandchildren, maybe 70 or 80 of them, their smiles. To you, my God, I give my all. My soul, my all. That is how I feel." The mourners at the Givat Shaul Cemetery included close friends... Full story
ADL: Anti-Semitic incidents in U.S. up by 21 percent NEW YORK (JTA)—Anti-Semitic incidents in the United States rose by 21 percent in 2014, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit of anti-Semitism. The organization counted 912 anti-Semitic incidents last year, up from 751 in 2013, with the period surrounding last summer’s Gaza war seeing a surge of incidents. The tally included 36 cases of assault or other violence, 363 incidents of vandalism, and 513 cases of harassment, threats and events. “2014 was a particularly violent... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)-This city's Rabin Square was full of young men wearing large knit kippahs and women in long skirts and long sleeves cheering as right-wing politicians declared their opposition to Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. On Sunday night, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ascended the stage to address the crowd, he needed their votes. On Tuesday he got them. "[A]s long as I am prime minister, and as long as Likud is in government, the nationalist camp is in government," he said... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)—At the AIPAC conference, a sea of 16,000 Israel supporters spent their time talking Iran policy amid the swirling controversy over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. To the sidelines fell discussion of the Israeli elections, the peace process and Israeli innovation— as well as another quieter aim of the three-day forum: courting progressives. Sprinkled through the dense program were several well-attended sessions devoted to presenting Israel’s deep connection to progressive values. In plenary session...
After speaking to Congress on March 3 despite the objections of the Obama administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “a prime minister in Israel must be able to stand up even to our closest ally and tell the truth.” In an interview published Friday by Israel Hayom, whose English-language content is distributed exclusively by JNS.org, Netanyahu said his speech about the Iranian nuclear threat was “well worth the cost of confrontation” with President Barack Obama. The White House had opposed the speech on the grounds... Full story
With the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 powers (U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China, and Germany) approaching a March 24 deadline for a "political framework agreement," Israel's objections to the parameters of the emerging deal have been highly publicized. But lesser known is the growing unease about the negotiations among many leading Arab states. For nations such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, which all have Sunni Muslim-majority populations, Iran-which is... Full story
At odds over Iran stance, Netanyahu tried to nix Mossad briefing for U.S. senators JERUSALEM (JTA)—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly tried to cancel a Mossad briefing for visiting U.S. senators because of the Israeli security agency’s warnings on an Iran sanctions bill. Netanyahu removed the Jan. 19 briefing from the itinerary of six senators visiting Israel, led by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Time magazine reported Saturday. Corker reportedly threatened to abort the trip to Israel to... Full story
The leaders of the eight political parties running in the March 17 Israeli Knesset election participated in their first televised debate on Feb. 26, moderated by anchor Yonit Levi of Israel’s Channel 2 network. Absent from the discussion, however, were current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his most formidable challenger, Zionist Union alliance chairman Isaac Herzog. If Zionist Union wins the most seats in the Knesset (Israel’s legislature) and is able to form a governing coalition, Herzog—whose Labor party merged with Tzipi Livni... Full story
By Ben Sales TEL AVIV (JTA)-Isaac Herzog paces slowly up and down the stage, one hand in his suit pocket, a slight smile forming through his slender lips. Quietly, his heavy breath audible through the microphone, the center-left candidate for prime minister runs down a detailed a list of policy reforms, almost never changing his tone or raising his voice. Even when he builds toward an early crescendo-telling the crowd "I intend to win"-it sounds more like a policy analysis than a rallying cry.... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)-The key word in Yair Lapid's political vocabulary might be "but." His Yesh Atid party is not right-wing, he says, but it isn't left-wing either. He wants to withdraw from the West Bank, but disavows both a unilateral pullout and bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. He wants Israel to allow civil unions, but would maintain the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate's control over marriage. And on Sunday, he wouldn't directly criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the... Full story
Israeli media say that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress could give him an extra seat or two in Israel’s upcoming election. But with just under two weeks to the poll, any advantage he gained could fade away. “It could have at least a short-term effect on the electorate,” Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israeli relations at Bar Ilan University told The Media Line. “Netanyahu is hoping to bring back voters who have left him for the center parties. But it’s still more than a week and a half before the election, and in Isra... Full story
Charges dropped against Ohio U. anti-divestment protesters (JTA)—Charges were dropped against four Jewish Ohio University students who disrupted a student senate meeting with a protest against divestment from Israel. The charges were dismissed last week following motions filed by lawyers for the students, who were charged with a fourth-degree misdemeanor, for not receiving a speedy trial. Under Ohio law, a speedy trial is 60 days, though extensions are possible. A jury trial had been set to begin in Athens County Municipal Court on Tuesday in t... Full story
By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA)-From the window of the Jewish Community of Copenhagen's crisis center, Finn Schwarz can see his country changing before his eyes. Hours after the slaying of a guard outside the Danish capital's main synagogue early Sunday morning, two police officers toting machine guns were on patrol outside the center-a common sight in France, Belgium and other trouble spots for Jews, but which resistant authorities in Denmark had previously considered both excessive and unpalatable.... Full story
Netanyahu, citing IAEA report, incredulous that Iran nuke talks are advancing JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “astonishing” that nuclear talks with Iran are proceeding despite a report saying that Iran is hiding military components of its nuclear program. On Sunday, Netanyahu at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting also reiterated his intention to travel to the United States next week to deliver an address on the Iran talks to Congress that has stirred controversy. The U.N. atomic watchdog, the Inter... Full story
When members of the pro-Israel community think of populations in need of relief, Syrian refugees are probably not one of the first groups coming to mind. After all, the proverbial elephant in the room is that the Syrian civil war is a conflict between two enemies of Israel: Iran-supported President Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah on one side, and jihadists linked with the al-Qaeda and Islamic State terror groups among the Assad regime's opponents. But as the fourth anniversary of the Syrian civil... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-When Benjamin Netanyahu faces the Congress next month, two things are unlikely to come up in his speech: a consideration of diplomatic protocol and an analysis of the efficacy of sanctions. Media attention ahead of the speech has focused on the diplomatic crisis set off by the invitation to the Israeli prime minister from U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who kept President Barack Obama in the dark, and the ensuing political tussle between backers and... Full story
The latest episode in a history of tension between the Obama administration and Israel has escalated to a new level, with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden opting out of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's March 3 speech before a joint session of Congress on the Iranian nuclear issue and radical Islam. Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner (R-Ohio) invited Netanyahu to address Congress, and the prime minister accepted. The Obama administration claimed Boehner breached... Full story
Senior Orthodox rabbis resign in wake of Australia’s sex abuse probe SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) – Three senior Orthodox rabbis have resigned in the wake of Australia’s Royal Commission into the child sex abuse scandal at two Chabad institutions. On Monday, Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, president of the Organization of Rabbis of Australasia, stepped down from several posts after a text message was revealed during the commission’s hearings last week in which he accused one of the whistleblowers of being a “lunatic” who is “killing us.” Rabbi Av... Full story
The four-year term of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz officially ended Monday, with Gantz handing command of the military over to his deputy, Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, during a ceremony at Rabin Base in Tel Aviv. While serving as Gantz’s deputy, Eizenkot was part of major decisions on military reforms. He assumes command of the IDF during a time marked by tension in all sectors: the potential for further escalations in Gaza, concern over the growing unrest among Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, the volatile s... Full story
"Usually after the first event, it's like a firestorm," said Pastor Scott Thomas, the Florida state director for Christians United for Israel (CUFI). "The excitement hits, the understanding settles in." That, in short, illustrates the process through which CUFI has become America's largest pro-Israel organization in less than a decade of existence. In January, CUFI announced that its membership surpassed the 2-million mark. (The organization defines members as email-list subscribers whose... Full story
Suspect in knifing of soldiers guarding French JCC charged with attempted murder (JTA)—The alleged knife-wielding attacker of three soldiers guarding a Jewish community center in France was charged with attempted murder during a terror operation. Moussa Coulibaly, 30, was indicted Saturday, according to the French news agency AFP, citing an unnamed judicial source. He was ordered held until trial. On Feb. 4, during questioning a day after the attack on the JCC in Nice, in southern France, Coulibaly spoke of his hatred of France, Jews, the p... Full story
