Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — Losing members of one’s family to violence is traumatic for anyone, let alone the very young. Unfortunately, this is something too many Israeli children have experienced—terrorism and war have torn asunder thousands of Israeli families. Fortunately, there is an organization in Israel that focuses on helping such children put their lives back together. OneFamily, a nonprofit organization recognized in Israel, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, rehabilitates, reintegrates and rebuilds the lives of children bereaved by wa...
(JTA)-In the capital of Lithuania, an institution formerly known as the Museum of Genocide Victims barely mentions the murder of nearly all the country's Jews by Nazis and locals, focusing instead on the years of abusive Soviet rule. In Kaunas, Lithuania's second-largest city, another so-called museum hosts festivals and summer camps on the grounds of a former concentration camp for Jews known as the Seventh Fort, where the victims are not commemorated. In the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, a...
(JNS) Boris Johnson overwhelmingly was elected by his Conservative Party on Tuesday to become the next party leader and prime minister of the United Kingdom. In his victory speech, Johnson, who defeated Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in the party race, promised that he would "deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn." Johnson, 55, who succeeded Theresa May, comes to power amid several crises wracking his country. He has to deal with a do-or-die Oct. 31 deadline to leave the...
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Palestinians may aspire to a capital in Jerusalem, but do not have a right to one, President Donald Trump’s top Middle East peace envoy said. Jason Greenblatt on Tuesday was previewing the political segment of a long-awaited peace plan. “It is true that the PLO and the Palestinian Authority continue to assert that East Jerusalem must be a capital for the Palestinians,” Greenblatt said at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Middle East peace. “But let’s remember, an aspiration is not a right.” Greenblatt cautioned the diplomats...
(JTA)—No matter their political affiliation, all sides can agree that Boris Johnson, who has secured his Conservative Party’s vote to become the United Kingdom’s next prime minister, is a colorful character. As the mayor of London, a position he held for eight years until 2016, Johnson was lampooned by the media for his buffoonery. In one incident, he was wearing a helmet and waving British flags when he got stuck on a zip line that was supposed to be his dramatic entrance into the Olympic Park that year. Also in ’16, his first year as foreign...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel’s former justice minister Ayelet Shaked is head of the New Right party, replacing Naftali Bennett, the former education minister. The announcement came on Sunday night in Ramat Gan, after weeks of uncertainty about Shaked’s political future. Shaked and Bennett reportedly met on Saturday night prior to the announcement. Shaked and Bennett broke with the right-wing Jewish Home Party ahead of the April elections to form the New Right Party, which they said is based on a “full and equal partnership” between Orthodox...
(JNS)—The U.K. government has announced that it will be taking diplomatic and economic measures against Iran in the wake of the seizure of the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz earlier on Friday, but stopped short of calling for military action. British Foreign Secretary James Hunt warned of “serious consequences” on Sunday, and is expected to announce a series of diplomatic and economic measures aimed at Iran, possibly including pushing for the renewal of E.U. and U.N. sanctions, as well as the freezing of Irani...
(JNS)-Elan Carr, a Jew of Iraqi descent, was appointed Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, a senior diplomatic post that had been vacant for two years until he assumed it in February. Carr is a well-known pro-Israel figure in California, having served as the Los Angeles deputy district attorney before making an unsuccessful 2014 bid on the Republican ticket for Congress in the Democrat-heavy L.A 33rd district. His wife, Dahlia, is a physician, and he flies every weekend from...
Lamar Odom visits Lubavitcher Rebbe’s gravesite with his kids By Gabe Friedman (JTA)—Lamar Odom visited the New York gravesite of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, the late leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, with his two children last week. “I heard he makes miracles happen,” the former NBA star said in an Instagram post. “It’s a miracle to be here at this place with my children, reflecting on a better life we will build together.” Tens of thousands of people, including non-Jewish celebrities, have visited Schneerson’s gravesite in Queens this...
(JNS)-The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted two resolutions on Wednesday, one condemning the anti-Israel BDS movement and another endorsing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The anti-Israel BDS resolution, which also reaffirms support for the Jewish state, currently has 340 co-sponsors. It was introduced by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Ann Wagner (R-Mo.). It currently has 340 co-sponsors: 172 Democrats and 168...
By Jackson Richman (JNS)-Former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, who is running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, said on Friday that, if elected, he would undo US. President Donald Trump's relocation of the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem-the first candidate running next year for the highest office to explicitly say so. "We have to have a two-state solution, and I believe the administration made a mistake to move the embassy to Jerusalem," the former two-term Pennsylvania...
(JNS)—U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand, and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, have said that if elected president in 2020, each of them would keep the U.S. embassy in Israel in Jerusalem, despite criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump for making the move in May 2018. The three gave their answers to Axios. “Vice President Biden would not move the American embassy back to Tel Aviv,” said a campaign spokesperson. “But he would re-open our consulate in East[ern] Jerusalem to engage the Palestinians.” In March, the U.S. embassy i...
(JNS)—U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) compared Israel’s “dehumanization and racist policies” to 19th-century segregation in the United States. “There is continued dehumanization and racist policies by the State of Israel that violate international human rights, but also violate my core values of who I am as an American,” the freshman congresswoman told the left-wing outlet Jacobin, which published a Q&A with her on June 13. “ ‘Separate but equal’ doesn’t work. I know that my ancestors were killed, died, uprooted from their land,” she continue...
(Israel Hayom via JNS)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his commitment on Wednesday to the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu was speaking at an event marking the 4oth anniversary of the Samaria Regional Council, held in the town of Revava. “Accept my commitment,” said Netanyahu. “It doesn’t come with a time limit: We won’t let any community in the land of Israel be uprooted in the name of a diplomatic plan. We don’t uproot people; we’re done with that nonsense. Israel under my leadership hasn’t and won...
(JTA)—Joe Biden said that Israel’s occupation is a “real” and “significant” problem, but would not go as far to say it is a “human rights crisis.” At a campaign event Friday in Dover, New Hampshire, the leading Democratic presidential candidate was asked the human rights crisis question by an activist who also asked if Biden would pressure Israel to end the occupation should he win the presidency. Biden first responded by saying that Israeli settlements are “unnecessary.” “The only answer is a two-state solution No. 1, No. 2 the Palestinian...
(JNS)-Turkey began to receive the S-400 air-defense missile-defense system on Friday despite U.S. warnings not to do so. The move by Turkey is likely to have "major ramifications" for the U.S.-Turkish relationship, according to Aykan Erdemir, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. "Turkey will no longer be able to receive F-35 stealth jets and Turkish companies removed from the F-35 supply chain will lose $12 billion of revenue. Also, the United States is likely to...
(JNS)—Iran’s underground Fordow uranium-enrichment facility has not followed the 2015 nuclear deal, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Institute for Science and International Security. Apparently, it has “never been repurposed” in that “everything required to enrich uranium to weapons grade could be quickly reconstituted in the underground portion of the facility,” continued the report. The deal stated, “Iran will convert the Fordow facility into a nuclear, physics and technology centre. International collaboration...
(JNS)—U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone Wednesday about Iran, in addition to joint American-Israeli security interests, as Trump threatened that U.S. sanctions on Iran will be “increased substantially” in response to the regime last week exceeding the uranium-enrichment limit under the 2015 nuclear deal. “The two leaders discussed cooperation between the United States and Israel in advancing shared national-security interests, including efforts to prevent Iran’s malign actions i...
(JNS)—Israeli and Palestinian businessmen toured the Dead Sea region last week with the aim of building on the seeds of mutual cooperation planted during last month’s “Peace to Prosperity” economic workshop in Bahrain. Participating in the July 9 tour were founder and president of the Judea-Samaria Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JS Chamber) Avi Zimmerman; Palestinian businessman and co-founder of the JS Chamber Ashraf Jabari; Megilot Regional Council head Arie Kohen; the council’s tourism and culture branch director, Orit Hershtig;...
Netanyahu accuses Europeans of appeasing Iran like they did Germany in the ’30s By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA)—The European Union said it remains committed to the nuclear deal with Iran despite that country’s claims that it violated its terms, prompting Israel to accuse Brussels of 1930s-like appeasement. The allegation by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed an announcement Monday by Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief, that “For the time being, none of the parties to the agreement has signaled their intention to invoke...
(JNS)—Archaeologists have discovered an 11th-century moat just outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls—the first hard evidence of a fabled Crusader siege against the city 920 years ago. Attested to in several historical documents, many scholars nonetheless believed the siege was a myth. The groundbreaking find was made as part of the Mount Zion Archaeological Project, a joint international effort led by professor Shimon Gibson and professor James Tabor of the University of North Carolina in Charlotte in cooperation with Rafi Lewis of Ashkelon Acade...
(JNS)—As the United States continues to ratchet up pressure on Iran and as Tehran continues to breach the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the question is whether the increased tensions could trigger a war. France is worried about the escalating situation. “The situation is serious. The rise of tensions could lead to accidents,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters when asked about the risk of a wider Middle East war, Reuters reported on Sunday. “No one wants a war. I...
(JTA)-An estimated 50,000 people have visited the resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, ahead of the 25th anniversary of his passing. The pilgrimage to the burial site in Queens, New York, known as the Ohel has taken place over the past week ahead of the anniversary Saturday, the 3rd of Tamuz on the Hebrew calendar, according to a spokesman for the late rabbi's Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. Schneerson headed the movement from 1950 until his passing in 1994-a...
(JNS)—Turn on any cable-news channel and the majority of the focus will be on national leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump or Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. And while politicians on the national level indeed command attention, state and local politics move forward at the same time, often at a quicker pace in terms of legislation and reaction to crises. Citizens often feel a more direct impact from resulting policies: From helping local businesses and revitalizing a city’s downtown to basic trash pickup, mayors and local leaders ser...
Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc. National President Ellen Hershkin and CEO/Executive Director Janice Weinman today released the following statement on the pending introduction of the Never Again Education Act in the United States Senate: “We are thrilled that the Never Again Education Act is moving forward with bipartisan support in the Senate. This has been Hadassah’s top legislative priority for the past year. Hadassah members have been aggressively advocating for its passage and today we are closer than ever to ma...
