Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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For the first time, the U.S. State Department has explicitly accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) of promoting anti-Semitism, a signal Jewish groups are hoping will lead to change in U.S. policy. According to a newly released State Department annual report on international religious freedom, official PA media "carried religiously intolerant material," citing Palestinian television programs that called Jews "evil" or "denied a historical Jewish presence in Jerusalem." Previously, U.S.... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-In this case, the sins of the son are the sins of the father. Israel's Supreme Rabbinical Court this month sentenced a haredi Orthodox man to 30 days in jail for pressuring his son to withhold a divorce from his wife for more than a decade. By upholding a lower rabbinical court decision, the high court gave its blessing to an unprecedented approach to freeing women from unwanted marriages. The Orthodox rabbis who adjudicate divorce in Israel-all of whom are men-have come under... Full story
By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA)-Pro-Israel activists in the Miami area plan to protest a Florida state senator active in the Black Lives Matter movement who visited the West Bank as the guest of a group that backs the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Organizers of the protest against Dwight Bullard said they object to the groups and people he met while visiting the region in May under the aegis of a Miami-based civil rights group, Dream Defenders. His delegation met with a founder of... Full story
Report: Sheldon Adelson meets with Donald Trump, suggests he demonstrate humility (JTA)—Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson told Donald Trump in a private meeting that the Republican presidential candidate must demonstrate a measure of humility, The New York Times reported. Adelson, a billionaire casino magnate, also told Trump in the meeting last week in Adelson’s suite at the St. Regis Hotel in New York that he was committed to his presidential campaign. The newspaper cited five unnamed Republicans briefed on the meeting who were not aut... Full story
TEL AVIV-A group of 233 Olim (new immigrants) landed in Tel Aviv on an El Al Boeing 777 chartered by Nefesh B'Nefesh to begin their new lives in Israel, including 75 Lone Soldiers who will become Israeli citizens and volunteer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Two of the Lone Soldiers are locals-Roni Weil, daughter of Aaron and Sharon Weil of Maitland, and Ben Brent, son of Rene Brent of Lake Mary and David Brent of Israel. The flight was facilitated in cooperation with Israel's Ministry of... Full story
Israeli water experts believe by 2050, almost half of the world's population will live in countries with a chronic water shortage. What's causing the shortfall is population growth, which leads to a greater demand for food, increased pollution and climate instability, according to Prof. Noam Weisbrod, director of the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research (ZIWR) in the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. In Israel's Negev Desert, which has long... Full story
Two years after the fighting between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, about 70,000 Palestinians have not returned to their homes that were damaged in the fighting. Just 200 homes have been completely rebuilt and the families have returned. “We ask the international community to increase their donations and the countries who pledged billions to respect their pledge,” Adnan Abu Husna, spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, told The Media Line. “The people of Gaza should not get to the point... Full story
(JTA)—Only last year, Spain was still the undisputed bastion for the BDS movement in Europe. Some 50 Spanish municipalities had passed resolutions in recent years endorsing BDS—an acronym for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel—more than in any other European country. Relying on backing from a strong far left, the branches of Spain’s BDS movement were able to exert considerable pressure. Last August, BDS activists pressured the organizers of a reggae festival near Barcelona to demand that the American-Jewish singer... Full story
Lou Pearlman, who formed Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, dies in prison (JTA)—Lou Pearlman, who formed and managed the boy bands Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, died while serving a 25-year prison sentence for a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Pearlman, who suffered a stroke in prison in 2010, died last Friday in the Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana, Texas. He was 62. He had been projected to be released in 2029 after pleading guilty in 2008 to charges that included conspiracy and money laundering. In the 1990s, Pearlman started Trans C... Full story
By Katie Beiter The Media Line A three-pronged approach to fighting skin cancer in Israel appears to be showing success. Over the past five years, an aggressive campaign predicated upon awareness, identification and research has apparently been responsible for significantly lower skin cancer rates in the Jewish state. Under the direction of the Israel Cancer Association, newly created skin care apps such as “DermaCompare” and the development of immunotherapy drugs like Keytruda, the campaign appears to have made noticeable headway in fig... Full story
(JNS.org)—Turkey and Israel are reportedly expected to sign a reconciliation deal before September, the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Israel is cooperating with Arab nations, Foreign Ministry Director says Israeli diplomacy with Africa continues, Togolese president visits Israel “I think we will finalize the issue before parliament’s recess. Israel has met our terms, paving the way to normalize ties. Therefore, we must do this as soon as possible,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters on Wednesday. Conditi... Full story
(JNS.org) The International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem and Israel's Foreign Ministry held a seminar on the 1994 Rwanda genocide, whose anniversary took place earlier this week. Several Rwandan genocide survivors were part of delegations attending the seminar. In 1994 members of Rwanda's majority ethnic Hutu government killed an estimated 500,000–1,000,000 ethnic Tutsi Rwandans over a period of three months. The seminar at Yad Vashem continues a partnership founded in 2005, when the museum first hosted survivors of the Rwandan g... Full story
Yitzhak Rabin’s son warns Donald Trump: Same kind of ‘incitement’ spurred murder of my father (JTA)—The son of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said Donald Trump’s “ugly” campaign rhetoric is threatening American democracy and creating an atmosphere similar to the one in Israel leading up to his father’s assassination. In a USA Today op-ed on Sunday, Yuval Rabin wrote that the recent call by Trump to “Second Amendment people” is the same kind of “incitement” that “led to the murder” of his father in 1995. “More than one commentator... Full story
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA)-When the 2016 Olympic Games open here on Friday evening, Israel will proudly show off its largest delegation ever, with 47 athletes competing in 17 sports. Among them are golfer Laetitia Beck, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor; Lonah Chemtai, a Kenyan-born marathoner, and Ron Darmon, the first triathlete to represent Israel at the Olympic Games. Israelis and Jews around the world are expected to show their support for the team, which failed to medal in 2012 when the... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)-"Lone wolf" terrorism in Europe is making headlines around the world. But in Israel, the phenomenon of angry or troubled individuals taking up arms is old news. Since October, Israelis have endured a wave of violence that has been carried out largely by individual Palestinians without backing from terrorist groups-so much so that some have called this the "lone wolf intifada." As of the end of June, 38 people had been killed and 298 injured by attackers, according to the Shin... Full story
Beginning with the bloody July 14 Bastille Day terror attack in Nice, France that left 84 people dead, Western Europe has seen an unrelenting wave of violence mainly perpetrated by individuals with connections to or sympathies with the Islamic State terror group. These attacks on European soil are now occurring with a near daily frequency, with five different lone-wolf shooting and stabbing terror attacks in Germany in late July, at least three of which were claimed by the Islamic State, as well as the slaying of a Catholic priest in northern... Full story
Boston protestors call on community relations group to retract criticism of Black Lives Matter platform (JTA)—A group of activists demanded the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council retract its recent statement criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement’s platform. According to a statement from the Jewish anti-occupation group IfNotNow, some 50 people gathered at the council’s Boston offices on Monday to express their support for Black Lives Matter. “We refuse to follow leaders that force us to choose between Jewish community and one of... Full story
“In each and every generation they rise up against us to destroy us,” Israeli MK Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid) reminded a packed Knesset hall last month during the premier joint meeting of the Knesset Caucus to Fight Delegitimization of Israel and the Christian Allies Caucus. The focus of the event: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), and how Jewish and Christian supporters of Israel can work together to quash the economic warfare movement against Israel. “MK Lavie did not complete the quote from the haggadah,” Josh Reinstein, director of the... Full story
A Jewish family in the UK has just three weeks to find a stem cell donor to save their mother's life after discovering her leukaemia has returned. Sharon Berger, 65, of London was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) in 2012, and was told that the only available cure was a stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor. A global search was launched - dubbed the #Spit4Mum campaign - and a matching donor was found within weeks which meant Sharon had an apparently successful transplant in... Full story
KAUNAS, Lithuania (JTA)-In this drab city 55 miles west of Vilnius, there are few heritage sites as mysterious and lovely looking as the Seventh Fort. This 18-acre red-brick bunker complex, which dates to 1882, features massive underground passages that connect its halls and chambers. Above ground, the hilltop fortress is carpeted with lush grass and flowers whose yellow blooms attract bees and songbirds along with families who come here to frolic in the brief Baltic summer. It's also a popular... Full story
Family of ‘The Pianist’ wins suit against book alleging Jewish musician had Nazi ties (JTA)—The family of the late Polish-Jewish man whose story inspired the Academy Award-winning 2002 film “The Pianist” has won on appeal a defamation suit over claims that he was a Nazi collaborator. According to Agence France Press, the widow and son of Wladyslaw Szpilman said Monday they have won their suit against the author and publisher of a 2010 biography of Polish-Jewish singer Wiera Gran. In it, the singer claims Szpilman had worked for the Nazis in...
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — To the millions of tourists who visit Nice annually, the city in southeast France is an ultimate holiday destination that offers inviting beaches and luxury casinos, stunning architecture and world-class museums. Sandwiched between the Maritime Alps and the Mediterranean Sea, Nice is France’s largest tourist destination after Paris, with 5 million arrivals each year and the country’s second largest domestic airport. Nice sees $1.6 billion in annual tourism revenue -- 40 percent from its region known locally as Côte d’Azur... Full story
(JTA)-When the late Austro-Hungarian aristocrat Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi attended church on Good Friday, his father would famously cause a scene, storming out when the liturgy came to the anti-Semitic exhortation "Let us also pray for the faithless Jews." Such protest was unusual in 19th-century Austria-Hungary, where anti-Semitism and other forms of racism were de rigueur. But the old count-a personal friend of Zionist legend Theodor Herzl-abhorred such biases in part because his wife,... Full story
Tim Kaine, accepting VP slot, cites Holocaust survivor who died in shooting massacre PHILADELPHIA (JTA)—Sen. Tim Kaine, accepting Hillary Clinton’s invitation to join her as running mate, cited as an inspiration a Holocaust survivor who died protecting others during a shooting massacre. Kaine, D-Va., appeared Saturday with Clinton at Florida International University in Miami a day after she announced her pick. Kaine pledged he would continue to press for gun control and recalled the trauma his state underwent during the Virginia Tech mas... Full story
The names of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher are familiar as prominent symbols of strong female leadership in times when women heads of state were rare. By 2015, however, the number of female leaders of nations reached 19, according to the United Nations. On July 13, British Home Secretary Theresa May joined the club by replacing outgoing U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, becoming the U.K.'s second female prime minister after Thatcher. As... Full story
