Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(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...
(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...
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...
(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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
(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...
(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...
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...
WASHINGTON (JTA) – The moment the Iran nuclear deal becomes law, as seems increasingly likely given growing congressional support for the agreement, the focus of the U.S.-Israel conversation will shift to the question of what’s next. What more will Washington do to mitigate the Iranian threat and reassure Israel and other regional allies? For starters, President Barack Obama seems ready to offer an array of security enhancements. Among them are accelerating and increasing defense assistance to Israel over the next decade; increasing the U.S...
The Christian Zionist organization Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN) convened a special session at the United Nations in New York City on Aug. 11 to help Christians learn more about the impact of genocidal anti-Semitism. "Our goal for the program was to reach ambassadors of predominately Christian nations and to help them understand anti-Semitism and how to deal with it," Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of PJTN, told JNS.org. The session was attended by diplomats from 13 countries:...
Mayim Bialik: Being religious isn’t trendy in Hollywood (JTA)—People of faith working in Hollywood are often out of step with the entertainment industry, American actress Mayim Bialik said. “I think in general it’s never going to be trendy to be observant or religious in Hollywood circles,” Bialik, 39, told Fox411 in an interview broadcast over the weekend. “There are people I know of faith and we tend to congregate together. I study Jewish texts weekly. That’s something really positive to me when you’re a person of faith, it stays with you...
(JTA)—The general council of a large Canadian church network voted in favor of promoting a boycott against institutions complicit in what it called the illegal occupation of Palestinian land. At its 42nd annual gathering, the council of the United Church of Canada voted last week in favor of the text on Israel, its website reported. The resolution passed was in favor of ““initiating and developing a program of education and advocacy in cooperation with our partners, related to divestment from and economic sanctions against all corporations and...
NITZAN B, Israel (JTA)-Ask Aviel Eliaz and Itzik Wazana about their evacuation from Gaza 10 years ago this month and both will tell you it's like a tree. For Eliaz, it's an olive tree sitting in a large pot in his front yard. He planted the tree in 2000 at his former home in the Gaza settlement of Nisanit, only to uproot it when Israel withdrew from the coastal strip. Uprooted, too, were the strip's 8,000 residents. His family was resettled along with hundreds of others in this city of cheap...
(JTA)-Among his rationales for opposing the nuclear deal with Iran, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said that he did not trust the three European Union partners to punish Iran should it violate the terms of the accord that offers the Islamic Republic sanctions relief in exchange for scaling back its nuclear activities. The New York Democrat's assertion served as a reminder that while Washington has been the driving force behind the deal, which was reached July 14 between Iran and six world powers,...
Business Class on EL AL Israel Airlines now features newly upgraded bed-like seats and Economy Class Plus offers more comfort for excellent value. Both of these offerings are available on EL AL flights departing the U.S. “We continuously strive to provide additional options and improvements, maximum comfort, as well as superb in-flight service,” states EL AL vice president and general manager, North and Central America, Shmuel Kuzi. “This is part of our ongoing strategy to further enrich the overall passenger experience.” Newly upgrade...
Matisyahu ousted from Spanish festival for not endorsing Palestinian state (JTA)—Matisyahu was disinvited from a Spanish music festival because he would not publicly endorse Palestinian statehood. The Jewish-American reggae singer was scheduled to perform Aug. 22 at the Rototom Sunsplash festival in Benicassim, near Barcelona. But his show was canceled after he refused to release a public statement backing a Palestinian state, according to the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, which called the disinvitation a case of “anti-Semitic cow...
According to a CNN news release, Sen. Chuck Schumer, an influential Jewish Democrat who's poised to assume leadership of his party in the Senate, will oppose President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran. "After deep study, careful thought and considerable soul-searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval," Schumer wrote in a 1,600-word post on the website Medium that posted during the first Republican presidential debate. "I will vote to...
NEW YORK (JTA)—The Iran nuclear deal will pave the path to Iranian nuclear weapons whether or not Iran keeps its end of the agreement, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Iran could get to the bomb by keeping the deal, or Iran could get to the bomb by violating the deal,” Netanyahu said in an address to more than 16,000 viewers Aug. 4 during a Federation webcast on the Iran agreement, co-sponsored by Jewish Federations across North America and the member organizations of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewis...
