Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Recognizing it is easier to influence those who are more prone to be natural supporters of the Jewish state than it is to sway journalists who cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a perceived anti-Israel bias, the Israeli government this week offered Christian media professionals a crash course in Israel advocacy and diplomacy. More than 130 journalists from 30 countries converged in Jerusalem for Israel’s inaugural Christian Media Summit, which was sponsored by the Government Press Office and spearheaded by Minister of Jerusalem A...
Why a pro-Israel group moved its benefit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort (JTA)—An Israel advocacy group has relocated a charity event to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to thank him for his support of Israel. The Truth About Israel moved its Feb. 25 benefit from a nearby resort after several charities canceled planned galas at Mar-a-Lago, The Associated Press reported. American Friends of Magen David Adom was among the nine groups that canceled in August. Steven Alembik, who is organizing the Truth About Israel event, told AP...
For the past 26 years, India and Israel have been developing a strong relationship. While once India was an adherent to the Arab League boycott of Israel, in 1992, India announced it would establish full diplomatic relations with Israel. A few months later, the two nations signed an agreement to increase cooperation between Indian and Israeli industries. Today, trade is booming. India is Israel's ninth leading trade partner. Exports have risen from $200 million in 1992 to $4.2 billion in 2016....
The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York on Wednesday announced the discovery of a trove of lost Jewish materials in the Lithuanian city of Vilna, thought to have been destroyed during the Holocaust. Considered by some as the most important body of material in Jewish history and culture to be unearthed in more than half a century, possibly since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the documents include never-before-published literary manuscripts from some of the most famous Yiddish...
The IDF struck three Syrian rocket launchers Saturday after five rockets from Syria entered the Israeli Golan Heights earlier that day, and as Iran’s military chief inked an agreement with Damascus pledging to combat “Zio-American schemes.” Meanwhile, Russia has reportedly agreed to slightly expand a buffer zone in southern Syria to prevent Iranian forces and the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah from operating near the Jewish state. The IDF located four of the five projectiles fired from Syria into Israeli territory. While all of the rocke...
IDF blows up Gaza terror tunnel, killing at least 7 JERUSALEM (JTA)—The Israel Defense Forces blew up a terrorist tunnel that stretched from Khan Younis in Gaza to Israel. The tunnel, which ended in Israel near the border with Gaza, is believed to have been dug after the 2014 Gaza war. At least seven Gazan Palestinians were killed and another 11 injured in the controlled explosion, according to reports citing the Gaza Health Ministry. Most of the dead are members of the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad, which has threatened retaliation. The...
JERUSALEM (JTA)-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken a wait-and-see approach to last week's Palestinian reconciliation deal. Netanyahu spoke out publicly and loudly against the move toward unity between the feuding Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, calling it a threat to Israel and a setback to peace. But he quietly indicated Israel could accept reconciliation if Hamas reformed. "Israel insists that the PA not allow any base whatsoever for Hamas terrorist actions from PA areas...
TEL AVIV (JTA)-International fashion model Maayan Keret said she was raped at the age of 12. Since then, Keret said, she has been harassed or assaulted so many times she "stopped counting." Yael Arad, a silver medalist in judo at the 1992 Summer Olympics, said that despite her "image and physical abilities," men have tried to "take advantage of or harass" her three times. Knesset member Merav Ben-Ari said male soldiers on her army base verbally harassed her and touched her inappropriately....
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, in a roundtable discussion with youth in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, slammed the Trump administration's demand that it renounce terror and recognize the Jewish state. Rather than considering peace negotiations, "the discussion now is about when we will wipe out Israel," he declared, according to the Hamas-linked news agency Shehab, Times of Israel reported. "No one in the universe can disarm us. On the contrary, we will continue to have the power to protect our...
(JTA)-A plan to open a mosque in a heavily Jewish area of London is dividing British Jews, with some calling the development worrisome and others accusing its opponents of racism. The Islamic center is slated to open next month at the Hippodrome, a former concert hall in the heart of the north London neighborhood of Golders Green. The area is home to thousands of Jewish families of all major denominations and many synagogues, Jewish schools, kosher shops and restaurants, even hotels for devout...
Fliers found at Cornell read ‘Just say no to Jewish lies’ (JTA)—Anti-Semitic fliers with swastika-like symbols were discovered on the campus of Cornell University in upstate New York. The posters, which read “Just say no to Jewish lies!” and urged students to “join the white gang,” were discovered Monday morning and taken down the same day. They promoted the “Solar Cross Society,” but there is no such group at Cornell and it does not have an internet presence. The Ivy League school’s president, Martha Pollack, denounced the fliers. “Whoever is...
(JNS.org)—A global observance of Shabbat with hundreds of special events being held in local Jewish communities around the world—including new events in Togo, Mozambique and Venezuela—is slated for Oct. 27-28. Locally, Sarah Gittleson of SPARK/JOIN Orlando will be hosting a Challah Bake on Thursday, Oct. 26, at the JOIN House, 109 Water Oak Lane, Altamonte Springs. (Seats are limited to 30 participants, so pre-registration is required. If the event is sold out, please put yourself on the waitlist. Register at thechallahclub.eventbrite.com) Rabb...
Woody Allen clarifies remarks on Harvey Weinstein: ‘He is a sad, sick man’ (JTA)—Filmmaker Woody Allen clarified his remarks about Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein made in an interview with the BBC. “When I said I felt sad for Harvey Weinstein, I thought it was clear the meaning was because he is a sad, sick man,” Allen said in a statement to Variety on Sunday night. “I was surprised it was treated differently. Lest there be any ambiguity, this statement clarifies my intention and feelings.” In the BBC interview published Sunday morning, Allen...
Egypt's president Abdel Fattah el-Sissi on Tuesday made an impassioned pitch for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, calling for both sides to take advantage of a "rare" opportunity to achieve the elusive goal. El-Sissi broke from his prepared remarks to the United Nations General Assembly in classical Arabic to address Israelis and Palestinians informally in colloquial Egyptian Arabic, saying they should take advantage of an opportunity that "may not be repeated." The Egyptian leader...
(JNS.org)—The international police organization Interpol voted Wednesday in favor of granting the “State of Palestine” full membership, in a diplomatic defeat for Israel. At the organization’s annual General Assembly that convened this year in Beijing, the Palestinian membership bid was approved with 75 countries voting in favor, 24 voting against and 34 abstaining. Israel had campaigned against the move, arguing the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) support for terrorism would undermine Interpol’s efforts. The U.S. also opposed Palestinian...
(JNS.org) Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah arrived in the Gaza Strip Monday for the first time since 2014, as the PA and its rival, the Gaza-ruling terror group Hamas, initiated the first steps in forming a unity government. Hamdallah’s visit is intended as the first symbolic move towards transferring custodianship of the coastal territory from Hamas to the PA. Upon arrival, Hamdallah and his 30-vehicle motorcade were greeted by Hamas members as well as members of the PA’s ruling party, Fatah. A crowd of 2,000 peo...
(JNS.org)—Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated Tuesday he would mull severing ties with Israel if the Jewish state does not withdraw its support for an independent Kurdish state. “If Israel does not reconsider its support for Kurdish independence, Turkey could not take any steps [with Israel],” Erdogan said, the Turkish news outlet Daily Sabah reported. “Those trying to establish new states in Iraq and Syria should not be surprised when they are tossed aside by those who use them,” he said. The Turkish leader’s warning came a day...
The rise of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the country's recent election has been described as a "political earthquake," while Jewish leaders' immediate reaction was toexpress concern about AfD's views. But what are the broader implications of the party's electoral showing for German Jews and for Israel? In late September, AfD won 12.6 percent of the public vote, in the first time a German far-right party won seats in the country's Bundestag legislature in decades. Chancel...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The Trump administration is encouraging the Palestinian Authority to assume control of the Gaza Strip and leaving the door open for a role by Hamas in the subsequent Palestinian government. But if such a move was once seen as a traditional predicate to a two-state solution, top Palestinian leaders are hedging their bets, saying they would not rule out a "one-state" solution in which Palestinians have the same one-person, one-vote rights as Israelis. Israeli leaders have long...
In what turned out to be a timely announcement, dozens of bereaved families Sept. 26 unveiled a new organization that seeks to fight and deter terrorism in the Jewish state. On the same day, a Palestinian terrorist killed three Israelis in the community of Har Adar near Jerusalem. The nascent nonprofit organization, Choosing Life, brings together more than 40 families who have lost relatives in the ongoing Palestinian terror wave that began in 2015. Since the so-called “knife intifada” began in September of that year, 58 people have been kil...
Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein fired following sexual harassment claims (JTA)—Harvey Weinstein was fired from the movie production firm he started following sexual harassment allegations by several women, including actress Ashley Judd. The Weinstein Company’s directors announced the dismissal Sunday, citing “new information about misconduct” by Weinstein, who co-founded the firm in 2005. The board said in a statement that Weinstein’s employment “is terminated, effective immediately.” Last week, The New York Times published an article alleg...
Attacks on Israel's legitimacy were in full flow at the UN General Assembly session in New York City on Wednesday, as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas denounced the 1917 Balfour Declaration-in which Britain announced its support for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people"-as a "crime against our people," while Iranian President Hassan Rouhani described the Jewish state as "the rogue Zionist regime," in language harking back to the...
It took less than 90 seconds for Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, to make the Palestinian delegation to the UN Human Rights Council squirm in their seats. Just after members from the PLO, Syria, Qatar, North Korea, Pakistan, Venezuela and Iran spoke their vile reasons to disassociate with Israel at United Nations Watch, Yousef spoke in English with clarity and confidence as he called out the PA's human rights abuses of their own people. "Where does your...
MEXICO CITY (JTA)-I was on the 11th floor of an office building here when the ground started moving. There had been a mock evacuation that same day in remembrance of the 1985 earthquake that killed more than 10,000 people, but this was no drill. According to protocol, everyone ran toward the building's columns-structurally the safest place to be in an earthquake. I closed my eyes as the rumbling worsened, focusing on my breath and hugging the concrete structure as ceiling lamps came down,...
At least 59 dead, over 500 wounded in shooting attack in Las Vegas (JTA)—At least 59 people are dead and more than 500 wounded in Las Vegas in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The attack took place at a country music festival outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Strip late Sunday night. The gunman has been identified as Stephen Paddock, 64, who apparently killed himself in a standoff with police. Paddock reportedly shot at the crowd with automatic weapons from a room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay at around 10 p.m. w...
