Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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WASHINGTON (JTA)—Iran is not living up to the “spirit” of the nuclear deal, President Donald Trump said, the latest in a flurry of mixed messages on the deal his administration has relayed in recent days. “As far as Iran is concerned, I think they are doing a tremendous disservice to an agreement that was signed,” Trump said Thursday in a joint appearance at the White House with Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni of Italy. “They are not living up to the spirit of the agreement, I can tell you that, and we’re analyzing it very, very carefully, an...
Americans for Peace Now cancels annual Israel trip over anti-boycott law JERUSALEM (JTA)—Americans for Peace Now has canceled its annual trip to Israel over the country’s new anti-boycott law. The law passed last month by the Israeli Knesset bars entry to foreigners who publicly call for boycotting the Jewish state or its settlements. Americans for Peace Now is concerned that trip participants could be stopped at Ben Gurion International Airport and denied entry into Israel, Haaretz first reported this week, noting that the dovish group has...
While U.S.-Israel military ties have long been known for foreign aid packages, intelligence-sharing and jointly developed missile defense technology, veterans affairs could be a major new frontier in that relationship. The seeds of this added dimension to already storied Israeli-American bonds were planted during last year's U.S. presidential election, particularly in the eyes of Israeli government officials tasked with the care of injured and released IDF soldiers. Israeli Defense Ministry offi...
While the international community hangs on to visions of a two-state solution, Israeli public opinion is unified in asserting that the establishment of a Palestinian state is unrealistic and undesirable. Only 12 percent of Jewish Israelis believe a West Bank withdrawal would end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a survey published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairsat the end of March. Jewish support for withdrawal from the West Bank has decreased from 60 percent in 2005 to 36 percent in 2017. The survey also found that 79...
(JNS.org) The Palestinian Authority announced Thursday that it will suspend ties with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East over changes that make the agency’s school curriculum more sympathetic to Israel. The PA’s Education Ministry called the changes an “affront to the Palestinian people, its history and struggles,” and vowed the suspension will not change until UNRWA reverses the changes. UNRWA schools serve more than 312,000 Palestinian refugee children, including 262,000 students in Gaza as well...
(JNS.org) Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he will take "unprecedented steps" to end the split between the PA-run territories in the West Bank and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. In a speech to Arab ambassadors in Bahrain, Abbas said he was shocked at Hamas's decision in March to form an administrative committee to run affairs in Gaza. "After 10 years in which we sent financial support to our people in Gaza, we were surprised by this unprecedented step," Abbas said. "Thus, we will...
Anti-Israel activists gathered Sunday inside the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago to hear a discussion featuring convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmeah Odeh. Unbeknownst to Odeh and the attendees of the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) conference, while she was receiving a standing ovation, a memorial service for her victims was in progress just a few floors above. Being remembered were Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner, two friends who had been studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, until...
Palestinian firebombing suspect shot by Israeli soldiers dies of his wounds (JTA)—A Palestinian teenager who was shot last month by Israeli troops while riding in a vehicle where passengers allegedly threw firebombs at Israelis has died of his injuries. Jassem Muhammad Nakhla, 17, died Monday in a Tel Aviv hospital after being shot in the head and foot on March 23 near the al-Jalazun refugee camp in the central West Bank, the Maan news agency reported Tuesday based on information it received from the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Nakhla w...
TEL AVIV (JTA)-High-tech workers know there's no problem that can't be solved with a spreadsheet. So a group of Israeli women seeking to combat the gender wage gap in the industry created one last month with data about their qualifications and salaries. They hope to empower one another in salary negotiations. As of Friday, nearly 200 women had contributed to the survey, and the data showed a wide range of earnings -- even for women with similar qualifications working in similar positions. "We...
Israeli leaders welcomed President Donald Trump’s surprise military action late Thursday to strike the airbase where Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was believed to have launched a chemical attack resulting in the deaths of at least 86 Syrians, including 27 children. “In both word and action, President Trump sent a strong and clear message today that the use and spread of chemical weapons will not be tolerated,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated. “Israel fully supports President Trump’s decision and hopes that this message o...
TEL AVIV (JTA)-In response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria on Tuesday, Israelis have donated hundreds of thousands of shekels to help children and others caught in the conflict raging on their northern border. With Israel maintaining a policy of noninterference, giving money has been a way for people here to respond to the brutal six-year civil war. Donations have spiked since the release of a video seemingly capturing the gruesome aftermath of the attack, which killed at least 82...
WASHINGTON, DC—Approximately 13,000 Jewish teens in more than 90 communities across 20 countries are participating in a day of community service and improvement projects this spring as part of J-Serve, the International Day of Jewish Youth Service, anchored on the official date—Sunday, April 2, 2017. With events kicking off as early as March and running through May, thousands of Jewish teens in grades six through twelve worldwide have organized a variety of J-Serve projects focused on meaningful social issues such as literacy, homelessness and...
(JNS.org) The Palestinian Authority’s official television network gave viewers instructions on what a female reporter described as the Islamic “religious rules” that husbands should use when they physically abuse their wives, Palestinian Media Watch reported Thursday. “To those who use beatings and violence to solve their marital problems: carefully read the Quranic verse again (Sura 4:34),” the PA TV reporter said April 1 on the “Talk of the Land” program. “There are solutions before giving beatings. If you have to, there are religious rules...
(World Israel News)—Russia’s Foreign Ministry shocks the world by declaring West Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. In a statement released today by its Foreign Ministry on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Russia took the unusual step of removing ambiguity about its stance on West Jerusalem. After explaining that it is “deeply concerned” about the absence of active negotiations between Israel and the Arabs on the creation of an Arab state in Judea and Samaria, Russia spelled out its stance on Jerusalem. “We reaffirm our commitment to the U...
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org)—Israel’s Rishon Lezion Magistrates’ Court Thursday remanded a 19-year-old Israeli-American hacker from Ashkelon to police custody for an additional 12 days. It marked the suspect’s third remand since his March 23 arrest as part of an FBI investigation into allegations that he phoned in bomb threats to Jewish institutions—primarily JCCs—in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand earlier this year. The case has seen significant developments in recent days, as investigators analyzing the suspect’s computer for evide...
WASHINGTON—Amid growing congressional concern about the Palestinian Authority’s misuse of U.S. aid, a major mainstream American Jewish organization has been quietly lobbying Congress to cover the PA’s unpaid bills at a Jerusalem hospital. JNS.org has learned that for the past several years, senior officials of the American Jewish Committee have undertaken the task of pressing U.S. officials, including members of Congress, to pay millions in unpaid bills the PA has racked up at the Lutheran-sponsored Augusta Victoria hospital in eastern Jerus...
Trump administration to host White House seder (JTA)—The Trump administration will host a Passover seder at the White House. The Jewish Insider first reported over the weekend that the seder is set to take place on Monday night, citing unnamed sources at the White House. An administration official on Sunday confirmed to The Times of Israel news website that the seder would take place. It is not known whether President Donald Trump or his Jewish daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will participate in the White House seder, a...
(JTA)-Five days after a municipal truck plowed through a Jewish cemetery near Paris in what authorities said was a freak accident, Isabelle Zenou arrived at the scene of the incident with a camera-and a theory. The March 20 devastation of 13 gravestones in the suburb of Pantin was not an anti-Semitic attack, according to city officials, France's CRIF umbrella of Jewish communities and even the country's chief rabbi. The driver drove over 13 headstones after losing control of his vehicle, the...
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The Trump administration will not allow a repeat of last year's United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel for its settlements, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told AIPAC. "Never again do what we saw with resolution 2334 and make anyone question our support" for Israel, Haley said Monday at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, where she earned the warmest reception of any speaker with an extended standing ovation. The Obama...
Jewish center in Sweden decides to close after anti-Semitic threats (JTA)—A Jewish center in northern Sweden will close after receiving anti-Semitic threats. The members of the Judisk Föreningen, or Jewish Association, in Umea, decided Sunday at a meeting to shut down its building and end its activities, The Local-Sweden reported. The association has received threatening emails, and the building was vandalized with stickers of swastikas and spray-painted threats such as “we know where you live,” The Local reported, citing the Swedis...
A Jewish teenager with dual Israeli and American citizenship living in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon was arrested March 23 in connection with the wave of more than 100 bomb threats against JCCs and other Jewish institutions across North America since the beginning of 2017. The suspect, 19, was arrested by Israel's Lahav 433 police unit in the wake of a months-long investigation by Israeli authorities, who worked alongside the FBI and other international law enforcement agencies....
NEW YORK (JTA)—Many Jewish groups blamed white supremacists, emboldened by Donald Trump’s campaign, for the bomb threats that have plagued Jewish institutions since the beginning of this year. It appears the groups were wrong. The news that one Jewish teen—an Israeli, no less—was behind most of the approximately 150 bomb threats that have hit Jewish community centers since the start of 2017 is a shocking twist in light of months in which the Anti-Defamation League and other groups pointed their collective finger at the far right. “We’re...
JERUSALEM—More Palestinians in east Jerusalem are applying for Israeli citizenship in hopes of swapping their vulnerable status as mere city residents for the rights and ease of travel that come with an Israeli passport. But after long touting its offer of citizenship to them, Israel is now dragging its feet in granting it, those who track Palestinian applicants say. Lawyers said their Palestinian clients now wait months for an appointment with the Interior Ministry and an average of three years for a decision. Israeli officials denied they w...
TEL AVIV (JTA)-"Vamos!" "Pass it!" "Ladrao!" For most of the match on a local field Friday, the Inter Aliyah Club soccer players speak a variety of languages. But when the ball hits the back of the opposing team's net, they join in soccer's universal victory cry: "Goooal!" Inter Aliyah, a team of Jewish immigrants to Israel mostly from Europe and South America, is playing its first season in the national soccer league. Bonded by their immigration experience and a love of soccer, the players...
Israel Police arrest 22 haredi Orthodox men accused of sex crimes JERUSALEM (JTA)—Police arrested 22 haredi Orthodox men in four Israeli cities who are suspected of sex crimes against women and minors over the past two years but were sheltered by religious leaders. The men, aged 20-60, were arrested Monday morning in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Betar Illit and Bnei Brak, all cities with large haredi populations. Residents of the communities tried to prevent the arrests, throwing rocks and other projectiles, damaging some police cars. The police p...
