Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1428 - 1452 of 2213
In dual Jerusalem stabbings by Palestinians, 2 Israelis killed JERUSALEM (JTA)—An Israeli teenager was stabbed by a Palestinian man outside Jerusalem’s Old City several hours after two Israeli men were killed in a similar attack nearby. The 15-year-old victim was in moderate condition after being treated on the scene early Sunday morning by paramedics, according to initial reports. He was taken to the hospital with wounds to his chest and back. The assailant reportedly fled the scene. A video posted online appeared to show him hundreds of fee... Full story
Israeli company Soda-Stream has offered to take in Syrian refugees and employ them in its new factory in the Negev Desert. In an announcement over the weekend, SodaStream and the mayor of Rahat, which is near the home beverage maker's factory, said they can absorb up to 200 families. Some 30 percent of the 1,100 workers at the factory live in the Bedouin city led by Mayor Talal al-Krenawi. "As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I refuse to stand by and observe this human tragedy unfold right... Full story
Recently the USDA and the EPA announced a food waste challenge with a goal to reduce food waste in the U.S. by 50 percent by 2030. How much food is really being wasted? Precise numbers are difficult to calculate, however, the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2010 published a report that an estimated 133 billion pounds of food is lost at the retail and consumer levels. Forty percent of all food manufactured goes to waste and never reaches the plate. Unfortunately, similar to every other western... Full story
(JTA)—In a speech at the United Nations, Pope Francis praised the Iran nuclear deal and decried the persecution of minorities in the Middle East. “The recent agreement reached on the nuclear question in a sensitive region of Asia and the Middle East is proof of the potential of political good will and of law, exercised with sincerity, patience and constancy,” Francis said Friday to the U.N. General Assembly. “I express my hope that this agreement will be lasting and efficacious, and bring forth the desired fruits with the cooperation of all... Full story
(JNS.org) Israel responded to Jordanian King Abdullah’s criticism of the Jewish state over the Temple Mount, telling the Jordanian leader it is Jordan itself that is violating the status quo at the holy site by allowing armed rioters there. According to a report by Israel’s Channel 2 on Monday, the Israeli government told King Abdullah to not “run away from your responsibility” in safeguarding the Temple Mount. “The Waqf (a Jordanian-run Islamic trust that oversees the Temple Mount) broke the status quo by letting rioters armed with stones sl... Full story
(JNS.org)—The heads of the Israeli and Russian militaries met for the first time Monday as the two countries announced further joint coordination of their Syria-related activities. Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkot met with Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Army General Valery Vasilevich Gerasimov following a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the Netanyahu-Putin meeting, the two nations agreed to form a “joint mechanism” in order to prevent any p... Full story
LESBOS, Greece (JTA)-As the small rubber dinghy crowded with Syrians and Afghans emerged from the midnight-black sea to land on a desolate pebble beach, the first people to greet the bewildered and frightened refugees were two Israelis. "Does anyone need a doctor?" Majeda Kardosh, 27, a nurse from Nazareth, shouted repeatedly in Arabic as the asylum seekers scrambled ashore amid cries of celebration and tears of relief at surviving the short but perilous crossing from Turkey to this Greek... Full story
The bloody and seemingly endless civil war in Syria has taken a new twist over the past month, with reports emerging that Russia has started to significantly beef up its military presence to help its longtime ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, continue his fight against rebel groups and terrorist organizations like Islamic State. At the same time, Israel has grown increasingly concerned with the continued destabilization of Syria and Russia's possible exacerbation of that situation. Prime... Full story
Jewish boxer Dustin Fleischer wins by first-round knockout, moves to 4-0 (JTA)—Jewish boxer Dustin Fleischer, who said his quest is to become the first world champion descended from a Holocaust survivor, stayed unbeaten with a first-round knockout. Fleischer, nicknamed “The White Tiger,” moved to 4-0 with the defeat of Ira Frank on Saturday night in Beach Haven, New Jersey, near his home, he reported after the fight on his Facebook page. The 26-year-old welterweight has won all his bouts by knockout. His father, Phillip, himself a former boxer... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)-For Israelis, the Ten Days of Repentance from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur have turned into days of violence. Unrest has swelled in Jerusalem following an Israeli ban on a protest group at the Temple Mount, the holy site known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif. The clashes have left one Israeli dead and dozens of Israelis and Palestinians injured. The clashes have been matched by a war of words, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring "war" on Palestinian stone... Full story
(JTA)-Even at his remote sheep pasture in the Austrian countryside, Hans Breuer was too disturbed by the plight of the Syrian refugees streaming into his country to go about his daily routine. Especially troubling to Breuer, a 61-year-old Jewish shepherd and singer of Yiddish songs, were the overcrowded conditions at Traiskirchen-a government-run refugee camp near Vienna that was featured on the local news last month because its 4,500 residents were double the intended capacity. "I was sick of... Full story
(JTA)-When he looks into the tired eyes of the Syrian refugees now flooding Europe's borders, Guy Sorman is reminded of his father, Nathan, who fled Germany for France just months before Adolf Hitler came to power. "He wanted to go to the United States. Visa declined. He tried Spain, same result. He ended up in France, neither welcome nor deported," Sorman wrote last week in an Op-Ed in Le Monde in which he argued that Europe should learn from its abandonment of the Jews during the Holocaust... Full story
The day after the largest sandstorm in 15 years swept through the State of Israel last week, turning the skies orange and clouding people's vision, Azerbaijan Ambassador to the U.S. Elin Suleymanov says his eyes are opened wide. On his first visit to the Jewish state through Project Interchange, an institute of the American Jewish Committee, Suleymanov tells JNS.org he has been enlightened about issues ranging from Judea and Samaria's Jewish communities to the Palestinians to religion and... Full story
(JNS.org) South African Member of Parliament Kenneth Meshoe spoke out against the claim by Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement activists that Israel is an "apartheid state." "There are many Christians that support Israel, but they don't come out... Those who know what real apartheid is, as I know, know that there is nothing in Israel that looks like apartheid," Meshoe, who is the president of the African Christian Democratic Party, told Israel's Channel 10. He added that those who... Full story
ANAHEIM, Calif. (JTA)-Arab Americans advocating on behalf of Syrian refugees have found some unlikely allies in their effort to resettle families from the war-torn nation: influential Jewish groups. Over the last few days, HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, launched a petition drive calling on President Barack Obama to swiftly open America's gates to an additional 100,000 Syrians, and the president of the Union for Reform Judaism wrote to the president and congressional leaders calling for... Full story
For the past three years Shai, an ultra-Orthodox man wearing a black suit and black hat despite the oppressive heat, has lived in the Old City of Jerusalem, where his children study. Last month, he was walking on Shalshelet Street in the Muslim quarter, when he says his path was blocked by a group of teenagers, one of whom spat at him. “I just lost control and shoved him hard, and a fist fight started,” Shai, who asked not to give his last name told The Media Line. “The border police showed up, and they grabbed the teenager and really beat... Full story
TEL AVIV (JTA)—With hundreds of thousands of refugees pouring across the borders of the European Union, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a landmark change in policy last month: Germany would begin to accept Syrian refugees, no matter how they got there. Four days later, Israeli Interior Minister Silvan Shalom made a statement on the same topic, but with a different tone: Israel would do everything possible, he said, to remove migrants from its borders. “I continue to fight, with all my effort, against the phenomenon of illegal inf... Full story
Pope’s White House visit to coincide with Yom Kippur (JTA)—Pope Francis’ visit to the White House will coincide with Yom Kippur, meaning that no rabbis likely will be in attendance at the arrival ceremony. More than 10,000 guests are expected at the ceremony, the Washington Post reported, adding that D.C.-area Jews on their way to synagogue will face traffic jams. “The Holy Father has a very complicated schedule for this trip, so we worked with that schedule as best we could,” Melissa Rogers, executive director of the White House Office of... Full story
An El Al Boeing 777 chartered by Nefesh B'Nefesh departed New York's JFK International Airport today carrying 232 Olim (new immigrants) from the U.S. and Canada who will begin new lives in the Jewish State. The flight was facilitated in cooperation with Israel's Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth Le'Israel, JNF-USA, and Tzofim-Garin Tzabar. Fifty-nine of the inspiring young men and women on board will volunteer for the Israel Defense Forces... Full story
The systematic destruction of archaeological sites in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State (ISIS) has appalled and infuriated but failed to motivate the international community to act to prevent the further eradication of the region’s heritage. With the demolition of parts of the ancient ruins of Palmyra in August, the group demonstrated once again its desire to eliminate any symbols, which do not conform to its fundamentalist interpretation of Sunni Islam. But according to experts, there is far more than ideology behind the defacement of a... Full story
Switzerland this week voted to buy six Israeli surveillance drones made by Elbit in a deal worth $256 million. The deal went through despite a campaign by protestors not to buy Israeli-made products because of alleged human rights abused against Palestinians. The deal came the same week that an exhibition in Rishon Letzion showed off the latest in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, also known as drones. Israel has long been in the forefront of manufacturing drones. “This is a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft which can fly for three times the t... Full story
N.Y. Times public editor calls paper’s Iran deal graphic ‘insensitive and inappropriate’ (JTA)—The New York Times’ public editor called a graphic about the Iran nuclear deal that singled out Jewish lawmakers “insensitive and inappropriate.” Margret Sullivan addressed the issue Friday in her column a day after the graphic titled “Lawmakers against the Iran deal” was posted online and published in the newspaper. The chart originally included a column with the heading “Jewish?” “Yeses” were highlighted in yellow, while “noes” were not. Another col... Full story
(JTA)—In their central Jerusalem apartment, Natan and Avital Sharansky can hear their new upstairs neighbors chatting in French on their patio. The young family moved into the penthouse earlier this month, shortly after immigrating to Israel with help of the Jewish Agency for Israel—the semi-official organization for Jewish immigration to Israel, or aliyah, which Natan Sharansky has headed since 2009. The family is part of a major increase in aliyah from France, amid rising levels of anti-Semitism and economic stagnation in that country. In... Full story
(JTA)—Tired of hearing about Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians or the machinations of a certain Islamic Republic? There’s plenty of other news happening in Israel, from uproars over the country’s enormous natural gas reserves to a growing push to legalize marijuana. Here are eight newsy items you may have missed in 5775 — and stories you should watch out for as the new year begins. 1. Israel’s controversial gas drilling increases Since the discovery of two huge offshore fields of natural gas in the Mediterranean Sea, Israel has turned... Full story
It is now clear that the Iranian nuclear deal will pass Congress. President Obama now has the 34 votes to override any Congressional objections, and is well on the way to being able to prevent any vote at all, if he can achieve the 41 votes needed for a filibuster. It would be logical that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would now give up his fight against the Iran deal. But at a toast at Israel’s Foreign Ministry for the upcoming Jewish New Year, Netanyahu said he intends to keep fighting against the Iran agreement. “Even in the fac... Full story
