Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA)-A Ugandan rabbi called on Israel to recognize his community after the government ruled against allowing members to move to the Jewish state. Rabbi Gershom Sizomu confirmed a report in Haaretz last week that the Israeli Interior Ministry had denied a community member's immigration application. The Interior Ministry, according to Sizomu, said the decision represented its stance on the Ugandan Jewish community, not just the applicant, Kibita Yosef. Sizomu, who leads the community of... Full story
NEW YORK—Jewish National Fund revealed its new Plant Your Way website that easily allows individuals to raise money for a future trip to Israel while helping build the land of Israel. First introduced in 2000, Plant Your Way has allowed many hundreds of young people a personal fundraising platform to raise money for a trip to Israel while giving back at the same time. Over the last 18 years, more than $1.3 million has been generated for Jewish National Fund projects, typically by high school students. The new platform allows p... Full story
The US condemned the Palestinians following the worst day of bombing by Gaza-based terror organizations that Israel has experienced since Operation Protective Edge, and called for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council. US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the UNSC "should be outraged and respond" to the largest attacks emanating from Gaza since 2014, which are "directed at innocent Israeli civilians." Throughout Tuesday and the following night, the Gaza-based Hamas and... Full story
(JTA)—A U.S.-drafted statement condemning rocket attacks on Israel was blocked in the United Nations Security Council by Kuwait. Kuwait is a non-permanent member of the council and represents the Arab countries. It blocked the resolution proposed on Wednesday ahead of an emergency Security Council meeting called by the United States to discuss the nearly 24 hours of rocket and mortar strikes by Hamas and Islamic Jihad from the Gaza Strip on southern Israeli communities. Kuwait had circulated its own draft resolution about two weeks ago c... Full story
Israel Air Force aircraft on May 22 bombed an "underground Hamas terror infrastructure" in northern Gaza and two military targets that belong to the terror organization's naval force. The IDF stated that the strikes were in response to the cross-border incident that occurred earlier in the day in which a number of terrorists infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip and set a military post on fire. Palestinian sources reported that the strike on the naval target set a boat on fire. The IDF... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—An Israeli woman mocked a Chabad rabbi at Ben Gurion Airport as he helped another man don tefillin. The woman, whose actions were captured on a cellphone video posted on Facebook, mocked the men, laughing and screeching on Monday morning as they practiced the religious rite. She yelled at them in Hebrew to “move because you are bothering me” and asked rhetorically, “Why are you doing this here? There are people here.” Several people in the terminal asked her to tone down, but instead she became louder. The video, which has... Full story
(JTA)—Jewish converts in America may have a much harder time being accepted in Israel because of a new set of regulations proposed by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. If adopted, some activists in Israel say, the new guidelines for religious courts could drive a deeper wedge between Israel and Diaspora Jewry. The Chief Rabbinate, which controls Jewish marriage, divorce, conversion and burial in the Jewish state, is largely run by haredi Orthodox leaders. For years it has clashed with rabbis in America, even Orthodox ones, who have more liberal int... Full story
Roseanne sobbed and apologized about racist tweet in unaired interview with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (JTA)—Roseanne Barr reportedly cried and apologized for her racist tweet in a podcast interview with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. Barr “was sobbing and very apologetic about the whole thing,” according to the Hollywood Reporter, which cited an unnamed source. Boteach did not air the interview. The call in to the podcast came two days after ABC canceled her show last week over the tweet mocking Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Barack Obama... Full story
(JNS)-Gaza's second-largest terrorist faction, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is leading the current dangerous escalation of the security situation, which may yet escalate further, and which represents the most serious flare-up of violence since the 2014 armed conflict between Israel and Hamas. Col. (ret.) Shay Shaul, former deputy head of the National Security Council of Israel, told JNS that PIJ could be motivated by one of two things. The first is that the terror organization is seeking... Full story
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D- Calif., said she was "deeply disappointed" in Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, for stopping the U.N. Security Council from investigating Israeli actions on the border with the Gaza Strip. "I'm deeply disappointed in Ambassador Haley's decision to block a U.N. inquiry into yesterday's events," Feinstein, who is Jewish, said Tuesday in a statement. "Without question there should be an independent investigation when the lives of so... Full story
Paraguay made history on Monday when it moved its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, just days after the US and Guatemala made the same move. Paraguay's President Horacio Cartes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and several heads of state from both countries were present at the momentous ceremony. At the ceremony, Netanyahu lauded Cartes as "a great friend of Israel and a great personal friend of mine. You're an unbelievable friend, and I have to say that this... Full story
The Beitar Jerusalem soccer team has announced that it has begun the process to add President Donald Trump's name to its club title in honor of his actions on behalf of Israel and his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Beitar Jerusalem owner Eli Tabib said Sunday that he is renaming the team "Beitar Trump Jerusalem" to thank the American president for moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to the capital. "For 70 years, Jerusalem awaited international recognition, until President Donald... Full story
(JNS)—Knesset Christian Allies Caucus held an event in the Knesset’s Jerusalem Hall on Wednesday, celebrating both the U.S. and Guatemalan embassy moves from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Members of Israel’s parliament and Christian leaders gathered to talk about their commonalities, shared support and the future of the Jewish state. The KCAC works to build direct lines of communication, cooperation and coordination, between the Knesset and Christian leaders around the world. The Israeli branch of KCAC has 19 members of Knesset from seven polit... Full story
(JTA)-Josef Kopf survived Sobibor by killing a guard and staging the first successful escape from that death camp in Poland, where the Nazis murdered 250,000 Jews. But Kopf, whose unlikely escape in 1943 preceded by several months a full-scale uprising at Sobibor, did not live to see Nazi Germany's defeat. After the liberation in 1944, he returned to his hometown of Turobin to reclaim some possessions-and was never seen or heard from again. "We always assumed Josef was killed by a local, but we... Full story
(JNS)-Some 50 percent of air-defense batteries belonging to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad have been destroyed after they fired on Israel Air Force jets in recent months during multiple operations, a senior air-force source said on Wednesday. The officer was speaking to reporters during an international air conference hosted in Israel, which brought together commanders from 20 foreign air-force establishments to discuss professional and operational matters with the IAF.... Full story
Philip Roth won’t be having a Jewish funeral NEW YORK (JTA)—Philip Roth forbade any Jewish rituals from being performed at his funeral. The prolific Jewish-American author, who died on Tuesday at the age of 85, will be buried on Monday at the Bard College Cemetery, his biographer, Blake Bailey, told JTA. Roth had originally looked into being buried next to his parents at the Gomel Chesed Cemetery in Newark, New Jersey, Bailey said in a phone interview on Friday. However, the area surrounding the Jewish burial ground had in recent years bec... Full story
(JNS)-A great deal of ink has been spilled writing about the growing partisan divide in Washington, D.C. In fact, one of the few remaining bipartisan issues has been support for Israel. But even so, a recent Pew Research Center survey found that only 27 percent of Democrats sympathize with Israel over the situation regarding the Palestinians, compared to a whopping 79 percent of Republicans. The dichotomy was on full display this week in reaction to the opening of the new U.S. embassy in... Full story
(JNS)-The transfer of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14 has spurred interest from several countries considering similar moves. Guatemala followed suit just two days later on May 16, and Paraguay and reportedly Honduras are planning to join their lead. The Czech Republic may break with European Union policy and relocate its embassy to the capital city as well. In late April, Czech President Miloš Zeman announced a "three stage" plan to relocate the country's embassy from Tel... Full story
The fate of Israel and, specifically, the reunification of Jerusalem were decided 50 years ago at Ammunition Hill. As Israel mourns the fallen on Remembrance Day, Jewish National Fund-USA ensures that the legacy of every name on its Wall of Honor won't be forgotten "In that warm and beautiful land, does evil reign and do calamities happen, too?" So wrote Israel's national poet, Chaim Nachman Bialik in his poem El Hatzipor (To the Bird) in 1892. It was these words that stuck in the mind both at... Full story
By World Israel News Guatemala made history on Wednesday when it moved its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, two days after the US made the same move. Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and several heads of state from both countries were present at the momentous ceremony. "It is not a coincidence that Guatemala is opening its embassy in Jerusalem two days after the US. You are always among the first," Netanyahu said.... Full story
(ISRAEL21c)-Throughout her 25 years of life, Netta Barzilai was told over and over that she wasn't pretty enough or smart enough or skinny enough to accomplish what she wanted in life. Last night she proved them all wrong. Smart, sassy, zaftig Barzilai did Israel proud, winning the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon as the representative of her country. This was the first time Israel has won the competition in 20 years. "Mazal tov, Israel!" shouted Eurovision officials at the post-contest... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-As he strolled on his leafy, narrow street overlooking what is now the United States Embassy in Israel, Ben Katz stepped back to dodge the side-view mirror of an oncoming truck, which had jutted onto the sidewalk. A few hundred feet past Katz's garden apartment, four security guards lounged under a tent. Below them, adjacent to a walking path leading to a small park, was the U.S. diplomatic compound that, on Monday, became the embassy. "For practical purposes, it's a question of... Full story
NEW YORK (JTA)-Despite growing condemnation for the deaths of 60 Palestinians on the Gaza border yesterday, Israel defended its military's actions as an act of self-defense in the face of a mass attack. "We didn't want it to happen, but we understood these were Hamas' intentions," Dani Dayan, Israel's consul general in New York, told reporters Tuesday. "We are not going away. We will defend our border. We will defend our population. If they invade Israeli communities, we will have to take much... Full story
As the British began to dismantle their Mandate (The British Mandate) and leave western Palestine (as Israel was called at the time), Israel’s War of Independence began (Nov. 30, 1947 - May 14, 1948). During the war, Palestinian Arabs became belligerents in the conflict, and by its end, rather than accept a Jewish state after five-and-a-half months of warfare, Palestinian Arabs called upon their brethren from seven surrounding countries to invade and crush the nascent Jewish state. Six thousand Jews—one percent of Israel’s Jewish population—los... Full story
US envoy Jason Greenblatt meets with leaders in Qatar to discuss Gaza relief WASHINGTON (JTA)—U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt met Wednesday in Qatar with its foreign minister and discussed relief for Gaza, a notable meeting with one of Hamas’ only allies at a time when the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel is exploding with violence. “Met today in Doha, Qatar with Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Than,” Greenblatt said Wednesday on his Twitter feed. “We discussed the urgent need for humanitarian relief for Gaza and th... Full story
