Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS)-A shipment of medical supplies from Magen David Adom in Israel were delivered on Monday morning to Chabad in China to help prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus. At the request of Chabad, Magen David Adom sent in 2,000 face masks and 200 full-body protection kits. The latter includes special suits and masks, along with covers for shoes, hats and glasses in the event of contact with a person who may be sick. "Magen David Adom, as Israel's national EMS organization and the country's l...
(JNS)-Some 30 campus Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries concluded an eight-day training program at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, learning cutting-edge, relevant and effective tools that will allow them to teach about the Holocaust and the growing problem of Holocaust denial. Equally important was guidance on how to grapple with and counter increasing instances of anti-Semitism on college campuses. The emissaries hailed from campuses in North America, Australia and Austria, including Dartmouth College in...
Yad Vashem apologizes for ‘unfortunate errors’ in films screened at Auschwitz commemoration By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA)—Yad Vashem apologized for what it said were inaccuracies in some Holocaust films shown at a ceremony it hosted last month. The apology, sent Monday by email to several prominent Holocaust scholars, noted “a number of inaccuracies that resulted in a partial and unbalanced presentation of the historical facts.” Specifically, the statement noted the films did not mention the 1939 division of Poland between Nazi Germany and the Sovie...
(JNS)-Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday to pardon Naama Issachar, an Israeli-American woman imprisoned in Russia for possessing and smuggling a small amount of cannabis. "The release was a gesture by President Putin to the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu]," a senior Israeli source told The Jerusalem Post ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Moscow after visiting Washington, where the new U.S. Mideast peace plan was released on Tuesday....
(JNS)-The words were barely out of U.S. President Donald Trump's mouth-and the much-anticipated peace plan to resolve the century-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict for good was barely uploaded to the White House's website-when the doomsayers and naysayers launched their attacks, mocking nearly every aspect of the proposal and condemning it to failure. But the three Muslim ambassadors in the East Room-from the nations of Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates-stood quietly, their silence...
JERUSALEM (JTA)—The Trump administration’s peace plan is an attempt to destroy the Palestinian cause and could lead to violence on the part of the Palestinian public, Palestinian Authority officials warned. In addition, a senior aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told Ynet that the decision to release the plan now is a result of “internal Israeli political self-interests.” “It is obvious to us that the presentation of the peace deal is meant to help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his elections. We know when personal...
Top Jewish children’s books include stories about a Yiddish culture rescuer and the Holocaust By Penny Schwartz (JTA)—A picture book about the founder of the National Yiddish Book Center and a debut graphic novel of a gripping Holocaust story are among the gold medal winners of this year’s Sydney Taylor Book Awards for Jewish children’s books. Leslea Newman, the author of 70 books, including many Jewish titles, was recognized with the body of work award. The top awards handed out by the Association of Jewish Libraries were announced Monday...
(JNS)-Barbara Birch, 45, of New York was tapped last month as the new president and chief executive officer of ORT America. She most recently served as vice president of development at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, managing strategic planning, fundraising and business development. Her work focused on managing relationships with lay leadership and connecting constituents to the organization's mission to create a culture of giving. Previously, she held leadership roles in...
(JNS)-Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday assured the mother of Naama Issachar, an Israeli-American woman imprisoned in Russia whose family has been anxious to secure her release, that "everything will be fine." At a press conference in Jerusalem shortly after a meeting at the Prime Minister's Residence with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to which Naama's mother Yaffa Issachar was also invited, Putin said, "I have met Naama's mother. It's clear to me that she is from a very...
JERUSALEM (JTA)-Russian President Vladimir Putin's prime speaking slot at a Holocaust commemoration event here was generating controversy even before the longtime leader took the podium. His remarks Thursday at the event commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army has done little to quell it. Speaking at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, Putin claimed that 40 percent of the Jews who died in the Holocaust were citizens of the Soviet Union. Historians called...
(Jewish Journal via JNS)-Under the banner "Israel in Focus," this year's StandWithUs International Conference focused on educating students about anti-Semitism and how to fight it. The pro-Israel educational organization's conference was held at the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles International Airport hotel over the weekend, and was sponsored by the Adam and Gila Milstein Foundation. Addressing the 550 college and high school students and community members in attendance, Israeli-American real estate...
(JTA)—One week before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, dozens of European officials arrived in Poland for a large commemoration event at Auschwitz. The delegation from the Brussels-based European Jewish Association visited the former Nazi death camp, located about 20 miles from Krakow, on Tuesday. Few of the officials, however, took time from their busy agendas to meet with elderly Holocaust witnesses, whose numbers decrease every year. One exception was Jan Jambon, the prime minister of the Flemish state in Belgium. On Monday, J...
Orthodox-run soup kitchen brings together Jewish and black leaders for MLK Day By Ben Sales NEW YORK (JTA)—An Orthodox-run soup kitchen brought together a diverse group of local leaders to stock shelves for charity on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The event, run by Masbia, a soup kitchen network based in the largely Orthodox Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park, was meant as a display of solidarity following a rash of attacks on Jews in Brooklyn and other Hasidic areas near New York City. Masbia also announced a drive to donate goods via Amazon...
Russian veterans and survivors of infamous Nazi concentration camp will attend a historic event at U.N. headquarters in New York (Israel Hayom via JNS)—In recent months, Israel and Russia have been forging a unique partnership at the United Nations. Amid the backdrop of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon and his Russian counterpart, Vasily Nebenzya, decided to join forces and convene a historic event to mark the liberation of the notorious Nazi death camp, to be held next we...
Israeli intelligence helped US assassinate top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani By Marcy Oster (JTA)—Israeli intelligence reportedly helped the United States assassinate top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. NBC News reported Friday that Israeli intelligence helped the U.S. confirm a tip about when Soleimani’s plane from Damascus to Baghdad took off. Soleimani was killed by a U.S. drone airstrikes on Jan. 2 while he was riding in a vehicle near Baghdad International Airport. “Intelligence from Israel helped confirm the details,” NBC reporte...
(JNS)-The wave of Iranian ballistic missiles that struck two military bases in Iraq early on Wednesday that house U.S. personnel was a clear Iranian attempt to conclude the current phase of escalation with Washington. The missiles failed, intentionally or not, to cause any casualties, after days of warnings by Iranian officials saying that U.S. military targets would be hit-possibly an early warning designed to decrease the chance of victims when the strikes actually came. Still, they were an ex...
(JNS)-Faculty who support the academic boycott of Israel are actively promoting BDS directly to students in their classrooms, according to a report released on Wednesday by the campus watchdog AMCHA Initiative, providing the first empirical evidence of such activity. The study, which examined 50 syllabi at 40 public and private colleges and universities over an 11-year period, revealed that academic BDS-supporting instructors had an average of 78 percent of their course readings authored by BDS...
US embassy in Jerusalem issues security alert following Soleimani killing By Marcy Oster JERUSALEM (JTA)—The United States Embassy in Jerusalem issued a security alert on Monday for U.S. citizens in Israel after the assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani prompted Iran to promise “harsh revenge.” “Out of an abundance of caution, the Embassy strongly encourages U.S. citizens to remain vigilant and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness, as security incidents, including rocket fire, often take place without...
(JTA)—Iran will no longer honor the nuclear deal it signed with world powers. The announcement came Sunday following a meeting of the Islamic Republic’s National Security Council to discuss the country’s nuclear policy following the assassination on Friday of Qassem Soleimani by the United States, The New York Times reported. Soleimani was the head of the Iranian Quds Force, which operates a number of regional militias and is allied with terrorist groups targeting Israel, including Hezbollah and Hamas. “The Islamic Republic of Iran will en...
By Jackson Richman (JNS)-The head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020, announced the U.S. Department of Defense. "At the direction of the president, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization," the Pent...
(JNS)—The American airstrike assassination of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force commander, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad early on Friday follows a major miscalculation on the part of Tehran in the decision to up the ante against the United States. While the extent of Iran’s response is not yet clear, military planners in the region, including in Israel, will need to prepare for the most severe scenarios. Even though Iran may seek to launch a calculated retaliation, which would exact a price without going to war, no...
(JNS)—For the most part, Jewish and pro-Israel groups reacted positively to the U.S. elimination of the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, Maj. Gen, Qassem Soleimani, in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq on Thursday. B’nai B’rith International CEO and executive vice president Dan Mariaschin told JNS, “The American strike today was a major step in the war against terror. Soleimani was the chief agent for Iran’s export of terror throughout the region and beyond. Hopefully, this will serve as a strong deterrent to those who wou...
(JTA)-Pianist Igor Levit says he has received death threats and is warning about an increase in hate crimes in Germany. The Russian-born musician, 32, whose family immigrated to Germany in 1995, said he received an email in mid-November threatening an assassination attempt against him at a concert in southern Germany. His spokeswoman told the German media that Levit informed the police and then played the concert under tight security. In an essay for the Sunday edition of the Tagesspiegel newspa...
(JNS)—The year 2019 consisted of ups and downs for the Jewish and pro-Israel community. Below is a listing of the top six events or themes that shaped news coverage throughout the year (in no particular order). Anti-Semitic attacks From Southern California to Jersey City, Jews were under attack as, in the former, one woman was killed and three people injured during Shabbat-morning services at Chabad of Poway on the last day of Passover on April 27. In the latter, two Chassidic Jews, a store employee and a police officer were shot and killed a...
Graffiti featuring Star of David and ‘9 11’ painted on buildings in North London By Marcy Oster (JTA)—Graffiti featuring a Star of David and “9 11” was painted on buildings on several streets in North London. The graffiti, discovered on a synagogue and store windows in Hampstead and Belsize Park on Sunday morning, seems to refer to a conspiracy theory that Jewish people were responsible for the attack on the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York in 2001. The neighborhoods in which the graffiti was painted are home to large Jewish po...
