Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Trump names KKK, white supremacists, neo-Nazis in condemnation of Charlottesville rally WASHINGTON (JTA)—Amid a furor over his delay in denouncing a white supremacists’ rally in specific terms, President Donald Trump condemned the “racist violence” at the Charlottesville event and declared that “racism is evil.” “Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and other hate groups who are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans,” Trump said Mond...
NEW YORK (JTA)-If Jared Kushner is the only person who can deliver Middle East peace-as his father-in-law Donald Trump said-he comes off as a reluctant savior. In a speech delivered Monday to a group of congressional interns and leaked to the media, Kushner expounded on the Trump administration's efforts to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace. What emerged was an outlook that at once was resolutely pro-Israel and skeptical of the chances of success. "So what do we offer that's unique? I don't...
Palestinians are vowing to continue their efforts to prevent Jews from living in large parts of Jerusalem’s Old City, despite a July 31 Israeli court ruling permitting a Jewish purchase of several properties there. The ruling by Judge Gila Kanfi-Steinitz, deputy head of the Jerusalem District Court, capped a 13-year legal struggle over the purchase by Jewish investors of two Arab-run hotels and an unidentified third property, all owned by the Greek Orthodox Church and located in the area of the Old City known as the Christian Quarter. The t...
More than 1,000 Jews braved a searing heat wave Tuesday morning to visit the Temple Mount on Tisha b'Av, the saddest date on the Hebrew calendar, while thousands more sat on the floor-a traditional Jewish sign of mourning-at the Western Wall Plaza to commemorate the destruction of ancient Jerusalem by the Roman Empire in the year 70 CE. More visitors were expected throughout the day. One person, a 15-year-old boy, was lightly wounded when a Muslim worshiper threw a chair at him. He was given...
Jordan’s foreign minister blames the “occupation” for the Temple Mount terror, and threatens even more dangerous crises. As recently as the mid-20th century, when Arabs last controlled parts of Jerusalem, they exhibited no respect for the Holy City. In 1948, when Jordan took control of the eastern part of Jerusalem, including the Old City, it divided the city for the first time in its 3,000-year history. Under the 1949 armistice agreement with Israel, Jordan pledged to allow free access to all holy places but failed to honor that commi...
The Trump administration has reportedly reached a new contract with the Israeli defense electronics company Elbit Systems to implement advanced security systems on the U.S. border with Mexico, similar to the security technology utilized along Israel's borders. According to reports that emerged last weekend in Hebrew- and English-language Israeli media, an American delegation recently visited Israel to tour the country's borders with the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Delegation members were pitched on a...
Supreme Court orders Netanyahu to release some details of Sheldon Adelson calls JERUSALEM (JTA)—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must disclose the dates and lengths of the phone conversations he had with billionaire American Sheldon Adelson, publisher of the pro-Netanyahu daily newspaper Israel Hayom. The Supreme Court ruling on Monday was a response to an appeal filed by a reporter for Israel’s Channel 10 and overturns a Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court decision in 2016. The Magistrate’s Court ruling had overturned a decision calling for the rel...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-Campaigning last year for the presidency, Donald Trump said the Iran nuclear agreement was the "worst deal" he had ever seen. It was never exactly clear, however, what he intended to do about it: Appearing at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's policy conference in March 2016, Trump said in the same speech that he planned to "dismantle" and "enforce" it. As president, Trump appears to be edging toward dismantling. His administration recertified Iran's adherence to...
Before an Arab terror attack that killed two Israeli policemen ignited the latest wave of tension over the Temple Mount, much of the Jewish world’s attention had focused on an internal Jewish controversy surrounding prayer rights at the adjacent Western Wall. In June, American Judaism’s Reform and Conservative movements as well as other Jewish organizations reacted with outrage to the Israeli government’s decision to cancel the construction of a new egalitarian prayer pavilion at the Western Wall. Yet a mixed-gender prayer facility calle...
On Friday night July 21, Maj. Hanan (full name withheld for security reasons) received word of a gruesome development. A knife-wielding Palestinian terrorist had killed three members of an Israeli family in the settlement of Halamish. The terrorist, a 19-year-old Palestinian from a nearby village, was shot and injured by an Oketz K9 unit soldier, who lived next door. By the time Hanan, who heads the Counter-Terrorism Branch in the IDF's Counter-Terrorism School, arrived at the blood-stained...
Palestinians and Arab Members of Knesset declared "victory" as Israel reversed security measures at the Temple Mount, adding that their struggle for control over the compound also extends to the Western Wall. MK Taleb Abu Arar (Joint List) stressed that "Jews have no rights at al-Aqsa Mosque" and that the Muslims' fight against Israel will continue, regardless of the cabinet decision to remove metal detectors from the entrances to the Temple Mount compound. "This is a proven fact, [even if]...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in discussions with the U.S. administration, has agreed to land swaps with the Palestinian Authority, Channel 2 reported Thursday. The conversations were reportedly held before the current Temple Mount crisis, which began nearly two weeks ago and has led to massive confrontation, violence and deadly terror attacks. Netanyahu's suggestions, made during meetings with Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, senior advisers to President Donald Trump, include...
(JTA)—The White House lauded Israel for dismantling metal detectors near the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem that had spurred violent clashes between Muslims and Israeli police, but Palestinian officials called for sustained protests. “The United States applauds the efforts of Israel to maintain security while reducing tensions in the region,” press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday after Israel’s actions earlier in the day. The metal detectors were removed amid an escalation of violent protests in the West Bank and of anti-Israel rhetoric across...
Jewish camp apologizes for flying Palestinian flag (JTA)—A Jewish camp in Washington state apologized after flying a Palestinian flag “as a sign of friendship and acceptance” to visiting Palestinian Muslim and Christian students. Last week, Camp Solomon Schechter hosted members of Kids 4 Peace, a group that includes Christian and Muslim Palestinian children. In a letter sent to parents and supporters following the visit, the camp wrote: “For the sake of a teachable moment, we did raise the Palestinian flag as a sign of friendship and accepta...
The Israeli government reopened the Temple Mount complex to Muslims and members of other faiths Sunday with strict new security measures, in the wake of last Friday's attack near the flashpoint holy site, in which Arab terrorists killed two Israeli Druze police officers. Israeli defense experts who specialize in understanding radical Islamic culture stress that such attacks are likely to occur again. "For many years, there has been the motivation to create an apocalypse between Islam and...
There is a broad consensus among American Jewish leaders in support of Israel's use of metal detectors to intercept terrorists on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations "supports taking the necessary and appropriate steps to assure security for all and to protect the sanctity of these holy sites," the umbrella group's executive vice chairman and CEO, Malcolm Hoenlein, told JNS.org. Herbert Block, executive director of the American Zionist Movement, said, "If the authorities responsible for...
A Palestinian terrorist fatally stabbed an Israeli father and two of his adult children last Friday night in the Samaria community of Halamish, amid escalating tension over Jerusalem's Temple Mount. The terror attack in Halamish came on the heels of a Palestinian-incited "day of rage," in which riots erupted after Friday prayers in response to the installation of metal detectors at the entrance gates to the Temple Mount. Israel bolstered security following the July 14 Arab terror attack that...
(JNS.org) Anti-Israel demonstrations were held across the Muslim world Thursday and Friday to protest Israel's decision to implement metal detectors at the Temple Mount, following the July 14 terror attack that killed two Israeli police officers near the holy site. In Jordan's capital of Amman Friday, thousands of protesters organized by Islamist groups took to the streets to decry the security measures. "With our soul, with our blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for you, Al-Aqsa," they...
(JNS.org)-Vice President Mike Pence said Monday that relocating the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem is only a matter of time. "I promise you that the day will come when President Donald Trump moves the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It is not a question of if, it is only when," Pence told the 12th annual Christians United for Israel summit in Washington, D.C. Pence said he and Trump "stand without apology for Israel today," and touted the president's trip to Israel in May....
JERUSALEM (JTA)-When Nedal Sader first heard the crackle of automatic weapon fire Friday morning, he couldn't believe it was coming from the Temple Mount. As a Muslim, he regarded the complex just outside his apartment as a sacred and peaceful place. He prayed there nearly every week. But as a seasoned first responder, he knew what gunshots sounded like echoing off the stones of the Old City. He finished dressing, threw on his medic's jacket and raced to the scene. Sader, a 37-year-old nurse and...
AMSTERDAM (JTA)-In a country where sex toys are displayed in shop windows and television commercials often feature nudity, a picture of a clothed, heterosexual couple kissing may not seem like the stuff of scandal. But precisely such an image-part of a poster campaign celebrating diversity in the Netherlands-has triggered acrimonious debate, charges of racism, acts of vandalism and even threats by those who found it offensive. The reason: The women pictured in a series of posters were wearing...
Two Israeli policemen in their 20s were critically wounded in the Old City of Jerusalem Friday morning when three Palestinian terrorists opened fire near the entrance to the Temple Mount. Two other victims were lightly injured. Police shot and killed all three assailants. Nidal Seder, a United Hatzalah volunteer who lives in the Old City, was the first to arrive at the scene, according to the emergency medical services organization. "I began performing CPR on one of the victims near the [Al...
Mayim Bialik, a star on the CBS hit sitcom "The Big Bang Theory," launched a witty new video campaign this week for SodaStream, succeeding actress Scarlett Johansson as the official pitchwoman for the Israeli beverage carbonation company. Bialik, a self-described "observant-ish" Jew and a doctorate-holding neuroscientist, is uniquely suited for the new SodaStream promotion. In the video, the actress finds herself in the year 2136 working as a research scientist, deeply consumed in the study of...
JERUSALEM (JTA)-Israel has already defeated the Palestinians. All that's left is for them to surrender. That, at least, was an argument being made in Jerusalem last week. Led by the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, pro-Israel leaders and analysts gathered here to highlight local support for their aim of reframing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict internationally. "After more than a century, the conflict is really over," Daniel Pipes, the forum's president told JTA. "As an American, I would...
