Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA)-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gained pop star status among Brazilians during a five-day visit to the country to attend the inauguration of the country's new president, Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil's most influential prime time newscasts Jornal Nacional and Fantastico dedicated several minutes to coverage of the first sitting Israeli prime minister to visit Brazil. The warm feelings between Israel's right-wing prime minister and Brazil's most right-wing president in... Full story
(JTA)—Earlier this week, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew by what it says is the most distant object ever explored by a spacecraft. But calling the trans-Neptunian object by its official designation of 2014 MU69 was cumbersome and boring for NASA scientists, who considered some 34,000 names as part of a public competition in 2017. Ultima Thule, a name that was nominated by 40 people, won the public poll. It comes from classical and medieval literature and means any distant place located beyond the “borders of the known world.” NASA apparen... Full story
2 swastikas drawn on apartment in Brooklyn By Marcy Oster (JTA)—Two foot-long swastikas were drawn outside the apartment door of an elderly Jewish woman in Brooklyn. Miryam Marc, 77, said her late husband was a Holocaust survivor, and she escaped from Europe to Israel during the Holocaust. The large swastikas were drawn in red marker on either side of Marc’s door on Saturday afternoon, WCBS-TV reported. The apartment building installed security cameras after the incident. “Now I am very, very, very depressed and I am scared even in the night... Full story
(JTA)—Israeli police want him to be indicted in three separate corruption cases. He’s embattled from left and right for his attacks on Gaza and his policy in the West Bank. He’s made a point of cozying up to controversial right-wing nationalist leaders, from Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro to Hungary’s Viktor Orban—and especially to President Donald Trump. Many American Jewish leaders say his policies are driving away Diaspora Jews. And if the upcoming Israeli election were to be held today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would almost definitely... Full story
(JNS)-Republican Rep. Russ Fulcher, 56, defeated Democratic nominee Cristina McNeil in Idaho's 1st Congressional District in the 2018 midterm elections to replace Republican Rep. Raúl Labrador, who unsuccessfully ran for governor of the state. JNS talked with Fulcher by phone. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Q: What is your overall stance on the U.S.-Israel relationship? A: I get that America and Israel have a very unique relationship based on shared cultural-religious... Full story
(JNS)-Many have pointed to Israel's security barrier in Judea and Samaria as being one of the primary contributors to the reduction in Palestinian terrorism since the years of the Second Intifada, from 2000 to 2005. However, a growing chorus of experts disputes this notion, while pointing to the barrier instead being used as a political tool to divide the land. A new study on Israel's separation fence in Judea and Samaria asserts that while the yet-to-be-completed barrier was constructed under t... Full story
(JNS)—The governing partners of Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition voted unanimously on Monday to dissolve the Knesset. New elections are tentatively scheduled for April 9, 2019, four years since the last election, and six months before the previously scheduled election date of Nov. 5, 2019. “In the name of budgetary and national responsibility, party leaders in the coalition agreed unanimously to dissolve the Knesset and go to new elections at the beginning of April, following a full four-year term,” said a government spokesperson on beha... Full story
By Yaakov Lappin (JNS)—It didn’t take long for the recent Israeli Air Force strikes on Iranian or Hezbollah targets in the Damascus area to receive Russian condemnation. Russia issued a public rebuke to Israel, accusing it of conducting “provocative” attacks. The Russians also claimed to reveal operational details about the airstrikes, saying that six Israeli F-16 jets fired missiles at targets in Syria from Lebanese airspace. According to the spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry, the strik... Full story
(JNS)-The last surviving resistance fighter from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 passed away on Dec. 22 in Jerusalem at the age of 94. Simcha Rotem, born Kazik Ratajzer in Warsaw in 1924, joined the Warsaw Ghetto Jewish Combat Organization in 1942, after having been a member of a Zionist youth movement in his teen years and suffering the bombing of his family home by the Germans, which wounded him and his mother and killed his brother and grandparents. Rotem fought under Mark Edelman when the... Full story
(JNS)-Opposition members in the Israeli government cheered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement on Monday that there will be elections next year. "In April, we will win," said Avi Gabbay, leader of the largest opposition party Zionist Union. "In April, we will bring change to Israel." Gabbay said that the elections are "between me and Netanyahu." "I am aware of the weight of responsibility on the prime minister of Israel, and as prime minister I'll lead the State of Israel... Full story
Chabad House in Maryland files federal lawsuit By Marcy Oster (JTA)—A Chabad House serving Towson University in Maryland filed a federal lawsuit against Baltimore County alleging religious discrimination and defamation after a judge affirmed an order to demolish an over 4,000 square-foot addition. Chabad of Towson filed the $10 million lawsuit on Thursday in U.S. District Court. It charges that the order to demolish the significant addition following decisions by the county government, its Board of Appeals and the Circuit Court all violate C... Full story
(JNS)—U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo promised that the United States would stand by its commitment to Israel’s security amid a planned withdrawal of American forces from Syria. “The decision by the president on Syria in no way changes anything that this administration is working on alongside Israel,” Pompeo told Netanyahu during a joint press conference prior to their meeting in Brazil, where the two men are attending the inauguration of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Since U.S. President Donald Trump’s abrupt announcement late last... Full story
(JNS)-Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon warned the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday about the threat Hezbollah poses to the Jewish state, calling the terrorist group a "lifeblood" from Iran. "Hezbollah has built a terror base inside a civilian population, with its end on the Israeli side of the border, all financed by Iran," he said in a special session of the U.N. Security Council. "This not only a clear violation of Resolution 1701, but Hezbollah also uses Lebanese... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel will step up its fight against Iran in Syria after the United States withdraws its troops from her neighbor to the north. “We will continue to take very strong action against Iran’s attempts to entrench itself in Syria. In neither of these sectors do we intend to lessen our efforts; we will intensify them, and I know that we do so with the full support and backing of the U.S.,” Netanyahu said Thursday in a statement to the media. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump launched a full and accelerated pullout of the 2,000 U... Full story
(JNS)-Israel will send a time capsule along with an Israeli spacecraft on the Jewish state's first mission to the moon in 2019. The capsule will consist of the Bible, pictures of Israeli symbols like the flag, Israeli songs, drawings by children and a booklet by a Jewish man about surviving the Holocaust, in addition to other materials. The spacecraft, Beresheet (the Hebrew word for "Genesis"), will launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in February. The time capsule is expected to remain on the... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—SodaStream is setting up a manufacturing plant in Gaza. SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum made the announcement Thursday at a conference in Jerusalem sponsored by the Israeli business publication Globes. He appeared on stage at the conference with Ramon Laguarta, CEO of Pepsico, which acquired the Israeli home-carbonated drinks company this year for $3.2 billion. Laguarta told the conference that he toured the SodaStream plant located near the Bedouin town of Rahat in the Negev Desert in southern Israel and said he was proud of ... Full story
(JNS)—The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has confirmed that the tunnels dug by the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah into Israel violate Security Council resolution 1701. “After further technical investigations conducted independently in accordance with its mandate, UNIFIL at this stage can confirm that two of the tunnels cross the Blue Line. These constitute violations of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701,” the peacekeeping force said in a statement. UNIFIL added that the tunnels are a “matter of serious concern” and will continue i... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-As our train hurtled through the tunnel-my ears popping on the descent-and then burst out into sunlight bathing a landscape of fields and rocky hills, I finally let myself feel impressed. Along with the entire population of central Israel, I've spent years anticipating the high-speed train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which became (mostly) operational in September. When it's fully online, the trip between the cities is supposed to take 28 minutes. That would be a game-changer. Fou... Full story
(JNS)-A bipartisan delegation of incoming members of Congress returned to the United States on Friday following a five-day visit to Israel. Reps.-elect Denver Riggleman (R-Va.), Elaine Luria (D-Va.), David Trone (D-Md.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Susie Lee (D-Nev.), participated on a trip organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's American Israel Education Fund to learn about the U.S.-Israel relationship. The incoming congressional members met with Israeli Prime Minister... Full story
Israel arrests 100 Palestinians in crackdown By Sam Sokol JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israeli forces arrested over 100 Palestinians over the past weekend as part of an anti-terror crackdown launched in the wake of last week’s uptick in terror activity in the West Bank. “There were 100 arrests over the weekend, and another 36 yesterday,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced during a visit to the Giva’at Asaf settlement on Tuesday, where two members of the IDF’s haredi Orthodox Netzach Yehuda battalion were recently shot to death by a Palestinian... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-"Yosef! Yosef!" wailed Rabbi Eliyahu Meirav, calling out the name of his stepson lying covered in a shroud on the marble slab before him. "You were righteous. I didn't want to believe it. Yoåu were all heart, completely pure, a holy and wonderful boy." As he broke down in tears, the grieving father was joined by the sobs of those in the crowd, which included a mix of Orthodox Jews-haredi and religious Zionist-as well as secular mourners. Many were in uniform, bearing the unit... Full story
The Zionist Organization of America has condemned the failure of the United Nations to condemn the terrorist actions of Hamas, the Palestinian Arab terrorist organization that has not only murdered over 1,000 Israeli civilians in scores of suicide bombings and hundreds of other attacks, but also calls in its Covenant for the destruction of Israel and the global murder of Jews. A recent U.S.-sponsored resolution in the U.N. General Assembly mustered a clear majority in support of condemning the genocidally-inclined Hamas for “repeatedly f... Full story
(CAMERA via JNS)—CAMERA’s Israel office prompted correction on Monday of a National Geographic article on the preservation of biblical archeological texts that contained an historical reference to disputed West Bank land. As first noted yesterday on the Elder of Ziyon blog, an article in December print edition of National Geographic erroneously reported that the disputed territories had at one point prior to the Oslo Accords been under Palestinian control (“The search for sacred texts”): In 1993, after signing the Oslo Accords, which provided a... Full story
The phrase, “tip of the iceberg“ references the fact that there’s much more beneath the surface of the water where an iceberg exists that is greater a threat than what is visible above the water. Today in the Middle East we need to coin a new phrase that references the exact opposite: that which is beneath the surface is just a small representation of a much more dangerous threat above the surface. This week, Israel revealed the presence of terror tunnels coming across the border from Lebanon in... Full story
AMSTERDAM (JTA)—The last time that a stranger directed an anti-Semitic insult at me, I was carrying supplies for my son’s birthday party. It was on a Sunday afternoon on Dam Square. Carrying Star of David party decorations in a see-through bag, I paused to snap some pictures on my cellphone of an anti-Israel rally. I was busy sending them to a friend who had inquired about such events in the Netherlands when a bearded man sporting a Moroccan accent said loudly in my direction: “Cancer Jew. You’re all made up, you’re fake. You’re fake dogs.... Full story
