Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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JERUSALEM (JTA)-The blame game started shortly after midnight Thursday morning. The Knesset's vote to dissolve itself and hold a second national election in five months had hardly been posted on the chyrons of news networks in Israel and around the world when the major players in the drama that is coalition government-forming took to microphones throughout the Knesset. It goes something like this: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Yisrael Beiteinu head Avigdor Liberman. Liberman blamed th... Full story
(JTA)-Theresa May, who announced her resignation on Friday as the prime minister of the United Kingdom, will be remembered as one of her country's shortest-serving and least popular leaders. Blamed by supporters of Britain's departure from the European Union for delivering what they consider half measures, she was loathed also by opponents of that plan for her efforts to push it forward. Ultimately, her desperate balancing act came to an end following the umpteenth failure in Parliament of one... Full story
(JNS)-Professor Melvin L. Oliver, president of Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., who defied pressure to boycott Israeli academia by vetoing the vote by a Pitzer governance body to suspend the college's study-abroad exchange with University of Haifa, gave the keynote lecture at University of Haifa's 47th annual board of governors meeting on May 28. The two academic institutions have been at the center of a highly publicized Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement debate in recent months.... Full story
(JNS)-The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has mobilized to raise more than 1 million shekels (about $275,000) in emergency assistance for residents of moshav Mevo Modi'im, a small agricultural community west of Jerusalem near the city of Modi'in. The moshav sustained a massive fire on May 23 that destroyed at least 40 out of the community's 50 homes. From that, the Fellowship will be providing up to $5,000 in assistance for each family in Mevo Modi'im. The fire, one of many... Full story
(JNS)-Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Tuesday a $5.2 million National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grant to fund a collaboration between researchers at Florida International University and Tel Aviv University to test a novel treatment for child social-anxiety disorder that could open new therapies to help children with this condition. "This trip to Israel headed by Governor Ron DeSantis is key in helping us at FIU create and deepen important partnerships in a number of strategic... Full story
(JNS)-Geneva-based non-governmental organization United Nations Watch has announced that Sarah Idan, who as Miss Iraq in 2017 faced death threats for posting a photo of herself with Miss Israel, will receive the Swiss organization's Ambassador for Peace Award. In recognition of her courageous and extraordinary actions to promote tolerance, build bridges for peace and spread a message of hope and unity, the prize will be presented to Idan at a Geneva ceremony attended by senior diplomats of the... Full story
LOS ANGELES-RVW Wealth LLC has announced the launch of The Jerusalem PortfolioTM, a new investment vehicle that will empower individuals, foundations and institutions to carve out a portion of their portfolios to reflect their values by owning a stake in Israeli-focused companies. RVW Wealth-which has a multi-decade track record of delivering the highest quality investment management and related services-is channeling its deep passion for supporting Israel into this new venture. "The Jerusalem... Full story
(JNS)-The Israeli satellite imagery company, ImageSat International (ISI), released photographs in recent days showing what it described as "Iran's land bridge from Tehran to the Mediterranean." The images show Iranian construction work on a new crossing on the Syrian-Iraqi border, which, according to ISI, would allow Iran to transfer weapons, armed personnel and oil into Syria. The images are from an area that has been in the headlines in the past. An older border crossing in the same area, kno... Full story
Boy learns to shoot at Jews in PA TV Ramadan special By Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW via JNS)—During the month of Ramadan, official Palestinian Authority TV is broadcasting a series called “Children of the Village Chief. The series portrays Arab life around the time of the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and afterwards in a village in what was until the 1967 Six-Day War the “West Bank” of the Kingdom of Jordan. The first episode starts with the so-called Palestinian nakba—the “catastrophe” of the establishment... Full story
FOXBOROUGH, Mass.-When the New England Revolution and England's Chelsea Football Club took the field on a chilly evening in mid-May at Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL's Super Bowl champion Patriots, they weren't playing just an ordinary soccer game. The match, which drew 27,000 fans, was part of a unique partnership between the team owners. Called "Final Whistle On Hate," their collaboration is aimed at promoting tolerance and fighting anti-Semitism. Between proceeds from ticket sales and a... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-The Netherlands won the Eurovision song contest 2019 and earned the right to host the international event next year. Duncan Laurence sat behind his keyboard and sang his ballad "Arcade," which had been considered a favorite, and gave the Netherlands its first victory since 1975. Italy finished in second, Russia in third, followed by Switzerland and Norway. Israel's Kobi Marimi finished in 23rd place out of the 26 countries in the finals with his ballad "Home." Marimi burst into t... Full story
On May 15, as social media was weighing in on the first round of Eurovision finals and readying for the second round, a series of posts started to appear around 8 p.m. “Did anyone feel an earthquake?”; “Earthquake in Israel—who felt it?”; “Earthquake?”; “That jiggle was an earthquake”; and so on. Measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale, the tremor’s epicenter was about 200 kilometers (125 miles) off the coast between Haifa and Hadera. No injuries or damage were reported, and all was forgotten by the following night. The reason for all this seismi... Full story
(JNS)—The United States and Israel on Wednesday called for UNRWA, the U.N. agency that oversees the Palestinian refugees, to cease operations. “We need an additional $1.2 billion for our activities in 2019. We don’t believe the future of Palestine refugees should be framed in decades of UNRWA,” said Pierre Krähenbühl, the UNRWA representative, at a U.N. Security Council special discussion about the agency. “They deserve a better political future. Until then, we will continue to operate.” “UNRWA has been empowering the refugee problem for years,... Full story
(JTA)-In December 1992, about nine months before the first Palestinian-Israeli peace accords were signed on the White House lawn, Hanan Ashrawi met with President George H.W. Bush in the Oval Office. Now, 26 years later, she can't even enter the United States. Ashrawi, a longtime Palestinian spokeswoman and a current member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, tweeted Monday that her application for a U.S. visa was rejected. "It is official! My U.S. visa... Full story
JERUSALEM-Miriam Serkez, 20, a medic in this capital city with the Israeli emergency medical service Magen David Adom, immigrated recently from New Jersey. Serkez's job is part of her national service in Israel-an alternative to military service for religious women. She wasn't forced to do this work. As a recent immigrant who came to Israel on her own, Serkez could have avoided serving. "It's hard for some of my friends to understand what I'm doing," Serkez said. "National service is not a... Full story
Most of Congress urges Trump: Safeguard Israel’s interests with Syrian civil war ending By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA)—Nearly 400 members of Congress signed a bipartisan letter to President Donald Trump calling on him to safeguard Israel’s interests with Syria’s civil war coming to an end. The letter sent Monday from members of the House of Representatives and the Senate urged Trump to ensure that Israel has the support and materiel to maintain its qualitative military edge in the region. It also wants economic and diplomatic pressure on Russ... Full story
The University of Central Florida's Shlichut Institute members participated in Israel's entry in this year's Eurovision Song Contest accessible to the deaf and hearing-impaired population by producing a music video for singer Kobi Marimi's "Home" in American Sign Language. In the weeks leading up to Eurovision, which took place from May 14-18 in Tel Aviv, The Jewish Agency's Shlichim (emissaries) from around the world embarked on the "See the Sounds" initiative in order to help people with... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-NASA released a photo of what it says is the crash site of Israel's Beresheet lunar lander. The image taken some 56 miles from the surface of the moon by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on April 22, 11 days after the crash, shows a dark smudge that indicates the point of impact. A light halo around the smudge could have formed from gas associated with the impact or from fine soil particles blown outward during Beresheet's descent, which smoothed out the soil around the... Full story
(JTA)-Jessica Meir has been preparing to go into space since the age of 5. She attended her first space camp after finishing middle school and a training program at the Kennedy Space Center following her sophomore year at Brown University. It took Meir three tries to be chosen for NASA's highly selective astronaut training program, which she started in 2013 and from which she graduated two years later. Last month, NASA announced that Meir will be participating in her first mission. It still... Full story
(JNS)—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Wednesday that the creation of the State of Israel was “one of the greatest accomplishments of the 20th century.” “My view of the establishment of the State of Israel is one of the greatest accomplishments of the 20th century; it was a political, official establishment of a country,” she told The Washington Post. “It was so exciting.” “Israel, we have shared values. Our friend in the Middle East for a long time—our only friend, our most serious partner in the Middle East, let me put it tha... Full story
Hundreds attend funeral of American killed by Hamas rocket By Sam Sokol JERUSALEM (JTA)—An American citizen killed while running for cover from a Hamas rocket was laid to rest in Jerusalem on Sunday evening. Hundreds turned out to bury Pinchas Menachem Prezuazman, a 21-year-old American Israeli from Ashdod. Prezuazman, a member of the Ger Hasidic sect, leaves behind a wife and baby. He was the fourth Israeli to be killed before the conflict eased with a cease-fire early Monday morning. He was in the stairwell of an apartment building when it w... Full story
(JNS)-More than 10,000 Jewish and non-Jewish youth from 40 countries and dozens of Holocaust survivors and dignitaries from around the globe participated in the 31st annual International March of the Living, which began on Thursday, May 2. The nearly two-mile march from Auschwitz to Birkenau is a tribute to all victims of the Holocaust and a call for an end to anti-Semitism. For the first time, the event's main ceremony recalled Greek Jewry, which was almost completely annihilated by the Nazis a... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Despite Monday morning’s cease-fire, which ended two days of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas, the “campaign is not over,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “Over the last two days we struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad with great force,” Netanyahu said. “We hit over 350 targets. We struck at terrorist leaders and operatives and we destroyed terrorist buildings. The campaign is not over and it demands patience and sagacity. We are prepared to continue. The goal has been—and remains—ensurin... Full story
(JNS)-As they do every year on Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israelis across the country stood at silent attention on Thursday morning as sirens wailed. On Wednesday evening, as Holocaust Remembrance Day began, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin were on hand at the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem to lay a wreath in memory of the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis during the course of World War II. At Yad Vashem, six torches were lit by... Full story
(JNS)-On Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom Hashoah) on May 2, under the theme "Say No to Anti-Semitism," more than 10,000 Jewish and non-Jewish youth from 40 different countries, together with dozens of Holocaust survivors and dignitaries from around the world, participated in the 31st annual International March of the Living to pay tribute to all victims of the Holocaust and call for an end to anti-Semitism. A delegation of U.S. ambassadors and White House representatives, headed by U.S. Ambassador... Full story
