Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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In the wake of a terrorist attack on the Kehilat Bnei Torah synagogue in Jerusalem's Har Nof neighborhood on Tuesday morning-which killed five people, including three American citizens, and wounded at least seven other Jewish worshippers-Western media organizations rushed to downplay the culpability of the Palestinian terrorists in the attack. The U.K.-based newspaper The Guardian published a Reuters story about the attack that was originally headlined "Palestinians kill four in Jerusalem...
(JTA)-Even amid the unceasing horrors of Sierra Leone's Ebola epidemic, it was a case that stood out. A 5-year-old boy had been found in his home in a remote village, the lone survivor in a house riddled with the corpses of family members. He needed to be extracted; the bodies needed to be buried. The operator who took the call at the Freetown hotline that coordinates the dispatch of ambulances, police and burial teams was shaken. Enter IsraAid. The lone Israeli or Jewish disaster relief organiz...
VIENNA (JTA)-An Austrian official's letter is threatening to undermine the central pillar of a controversial court decision that found a Jewish journalist guilty of defrauding the government. On Sept. 9, senior state attorney Martin Windisch wrote that the government "makes no claims" against Stephan Templ, who was sentenced in April to three years in jail for cheating Austria out of half the value of a sanatorium confiscated by the Nazis from one of Templ's relatives. In May, the Austrian...
Iranian Supreme Leader the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is known for his anti-Zionist rhetoric, has issued perhaps his most detailed tirade to date in a Twitter post titled "9 key questions about the elimination of Israel." "Why should & how can #Israel be eliminated? Ayatollah Khamenei's answer to 9 key questions. #HandsOffAlAqsa," read the introduction to Khamenei's tweet, posted Saturday, Nov. 8. The hashtag #HandsOffAlAqsa referred to the recent tensions between Arabs and Jews at the Temple...
TEL AVIV (JTA)—After a gruesome attack by two Palestinian cousins left four dead at a Jerusalem synagogue, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu singled out one person for blame: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. In a statement issued by his office, Abbas denounced the Tuesday morning attack, saying he “condemns the killing of civilians no matter who is doing it.” But over the past few weeks, as a string of violent attacks have unsettled Jerusalemites, Abbas has issued statements some see as encouraging violence against Israe...
Controversial Jewish nation-state bill passes Israeli Cabinet vote JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel’s Cabinet passed a bill that would identify Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. The measure, which has engendered controversy, advanced in a 14-6 vote on Sunday. It must pass a preliminary reading and two other readings in the Israeli parliament, which will consider the so-called nation-state law on Wednesday. The ministers of the Likud (with the exception of Culture Minister Limor Livnat), Yisrael Beiteinu and Jewish Home parties voted for...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Joe and Bibi? Still buddies. U.S. and Israel? Still allies. Agreement on Iran and the Palestinians? Well. The governments of President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were back on joshing terms this week, but the deep differences that led to recent name-calling exchanges still percolated. Netanyahu and Vice President Joe Biden, as well as top aides in both governments, used back-to-back conferences this weekend to get the message across loud and clear: We love one another. “Ron, you’d better damn well repor...
Taglit-Birthright Israel is currently opening its winter season and preparing for 2015. During the next few months, Taglit-Birthright Israel will bring more than 14,000 young Jews between the ages of 18-26 from around the world to visit Israel as part of the 10-day project. Gidi Mark, the CEO of Taglit- Birthright Israel, “We are thrilled to kick off the winter season, we will continue to expand and deepen the activities among young Diaspora Jews by bringing them to Israel through Taglit- Birthright Israel” The past summer season proved as one...
JERUSALEM (JTA)-It's 3 p.m. on a Thursday and the Jerusalem light rail is packed with secular and religious, Jew and Arab, as it heads east from the city's Central Bus Station. From there it passes some of the city's most crowded venues, stopping at the Mahane Yehuda open market and coursing down Jaffa Street until it hits the city center, where the train cars empty out onto a thoroughfare loud with foot traffic. By the time it reaches the station in the Arab neighborhood of Shuafat, the train...
ISIS beheads American aid worker, an Iraq war veteran (JTA)—The Islamic State jihadist group beheaded an American hostage. In a video posted online Sunday morning on jihadist and social networking sites, the group also known as ISIS and ISIL said it beheaded American aid worker Peter Kassig, who went by the name Abdul-Rahman Kassig after converting to Islam. Kassig, 26, of Indianapolis, was abducted in October 2013 in Syria. He founded a Turkey-based nonprofit group that assists refugees on both sides of the Syria-Turkey border. Kassig s...
A first-hand account of a scene at the hospital. Outside the Swartz Center for Emergency Medicine at Hadassah’s hospitals, TV cameramen are waiting for the blinking lights and sirens of the ambulance. One of the injured is already inside— a young man who had been stabbed by a terrorist. The terrorist, allegedly associated with Islamic jihad, had driven his vehicle into a bus stop, running over 26-year-old Dalia Lemkus. When his minivan hit an obstruction, he jumped out and began stabbing her and others. A security guard from nearby Alon Shv...
TEL AVIV (JTA)-SodaStream, the Israeli at-home seltzer machine company, announced last week that it would be closing its West Bank factory and moving the facility's operations to southern Israel next year. Here's what you need to know about SodaStream, the controversy that has bubbled up in its midst and what the actress Scarlett Johansson has to do with it. What is SodaStream? SodaStream is an Israeli company that makes and sells seltzer machines for home use. Since it was founded in 1991, the...
TEL AVIV (JTA)-The Israeli government has adopted a major reform expected to ease the path to conversion for hundreds of thousands of Israelis now prohibited from marrying in the Jewish state. In the most significant response in decades to the estimated 400,000 Israelis who are not considered Jewish by the Chief Rabbinate, the Cabinet expanded authority for conversion beyond a small group of approved haredi Orthodox courts. Since only Orthodox Jewish marriage is permitted in Israel, such...
Arab-Israelis riot to protest killing by Israel Police JERUSALEM (JTA)—At least 20 Arab-Israelis were arrested during riots in the Arab-Israeli town of Kfar Kana in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of a resident by Israel Police. On Sunday, the Arab-Israeli community declared a nationwide strike to protest the killing last Friday night of Kheir Hamdan, 22. Riots were also taking place in other Arab-Israeli cities. In the face of the riots, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to strip the citizenship of those who call for the d...
JERUSALEM (JTA)-An anonymous White House staffer apparently isn't the only one who thinks Benjamin Netanyahu is shy about taking chances. A piece this week in The Atlantic magazine by journalist Jeffrey Goldberg ignited a firestorm with its revelation that an Obama administration official had called the Israeli prime minister "a coward" and "chickenshit." But on Netanyahu's home turf, Israeli political leaders also have criticized him as risk averse and focused solely on his political survival....
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall-a wall built right through the heart of Germany and its capital city, Berlin. This wall tore families apart, caused job loss to many, and cost the lives of more than 200 people who tried to cross over it. Before the Wall was constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) on Aug. 13, 1961, more than 3.5 million East Germans defected to West Germany. At first the GDR stated that there were no intentions to...
In southern Israel, the next generation of Jewish pioneers is making the desert bloom. A group of young, Zionist, idealistic adults are cultivating a previously uninhabited area in the northwest Negev on Israel's borders with Egypt and Gaza-growing tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, cauliflower, pomegranates, olives, and more. "I am there (in the Negev) because I can make a difference," said Nava Uner, who lives in Bnei Netzarim, one of three Halutza (pioneer) communities, as part of the new Young...
JERUSALEM-As the afternoon sun showers Jerusalem with gold, Ammunition Hill looks like any of the city's other 22 light rail stops. Since 2011, untold numbers of Israelis-Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike-have been catching the train every nine minutes or so along the 8.6-mile route through Jerusalem's main shopping streets and many residential neighborhoods. In fact, for the commuters, college students, and shoppers getting off and on here, there is little to indicate that a terrorist attack...
What’s the cure for the recent ills of the United States Secret Service? American officials might consider taking some advice from their Israeli counterparts at the Shin Bet security agency. White House security breaches have sent the Secret Service scrambling to restructure itself in order to prevent similar or more serious mistakes in the future. But former Israeli security and intelligence officials note that the Shin Bet, which also protects top dignitaries, has virtually the same tactics, rules of engagement, and training procedures as i...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Is the Obama administration preparing the ground for an Iran nuclear deal — one in which both sides can claim victory? Wendy Sherman, the top U.S. negotiator, in an unusually detailed and optimistic speech on Oct. 23, for the first time suggested that the pieces of a deal were in place and all that was needed was Iranian willingness to wrap it up by the Nov. 24 deadline. “I can tell you that all the components of a plan that should be acceptable to both sides are on the table,” Sherman, an undersecretary of state, said at a C...
Conversion reform passes Cabinet vote JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel’s Cabinet approved a government regulation that will reform the conversion process. The regulation, which echoes the controversial conversion bill that for the second time passed the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, was approved on Sunday at the weekly Cabinet meeting. It will have the force of law but can be rescinded by the Cabinet. Only the Jewish Home party’s Uri Ariel, who serves as housing minister, voted against the regulation, The Jerusalem Post reported. The regul...
Rina Avner knew she had found something special when she hit the large stone during an excavation outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. The stone, weighing one ton, had a well-preserved Latin inscription. Researchers say this is among the most important Latin inscriptions ever found in Jerusalem. “First I had a wave of adrenaline surge through me, and then I got all sweaty when I saw the inscription,” Avner told The Media Line as she stood near the giant stone on display in front of the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem for the first time....
Netanyahu reportedly OKs housing plans for Jewish neighborhoods in E. Jerusalem JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly approved planning for at least 1,000 new housing units in Jewish neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem. At least 600 of the apartments will be in Ramat Shlomo and 400 in Har Homa, according to Israeli media reports citing unnamed officials. The approval is only for the planning of the housing units, not the building of them. Netanyahu also reportedly ordered the advancement of infrastructure projects in J...
The skeleton of a woman with a dove-shaped pendant was discovered under the tiles of a collapsed roof by archeologists from the University of Haifa during this excavation season at Hippos-Sussita. They also found a large muscular marble leg and artillery ammunition from some 2,000 years ago. "The data is finally beginning to form a clear historical-archaeological picture," said Dr. Michael Eisenberg, head of the international excavation team. The past 15 excavation seasons at Hippos-Sussita,...
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has issued a security alert to Jewish institutions across the country concerning a potential uptick in the number of online attacks by foreign hackers targeting the websites of synagogues and other Jewish organizations, which could compromise synagogue membership lists and financial data. The latest attack was reported last week. As Jews were celebrating the festival holiday of Sukkot, a hacker group calling itself “Team System Dz” attacked the website of a South Florida synagogue, redirecting visitors to a pag...
