Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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JERUSALEM (JTA)-An anonymous White House staffer apparently isn't the only one who thinks Benjamin Netanyahu is shy about taking chances. A piece this week in The Atlantic magazine by journalist Jeffrey Goldberg ignited a firestorm with its revelation that an Obama administration official had called the Israeli prime minister "a coward" and "chickenshit." But on Netanyahu's home turf, Israeli political leaders also have criticized him as risk averse and focused solely on his political survival....
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall-a wall built right through the heart of Germany and its capital city, Berlin. This wall tore families apart, caused job loss to many, and cost the lives of more than 200 people who tried to cross over it. Before the Wall was constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) on Aug. 13, 1961, more than 3.5 million East Germans defected to West Germany. At first the GDR stated that there were no intentions to...
In southern Israel, the next generation of Jewish pioneers is making the desert bloom. A group of young, Zionist, idealistic adults are cultivating a previously uninhabited area in the northwest Negev on Israel's borders with Egypt and Gaza-growing tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, cauliflower, pomegranates, olives, and more. "I am there (in the Negev) because I can make a difference," said Nava Uner, who lives in Bnei Netzarim, one of three Halutza (pioneer) communities, as part of the new Young...
JERUSALEM-As the afternoon sun showers Jerusalem with gold, Ammunition Hill looks like any of the city's other 22 light rail stops. Since 2011, untold numbers of Israelis-Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike-have been catching the train every nine minutes or so along the 8.6-mile route through Jerusalem's main shopping streets and many residential neighborhoods. In fact, for the commuters, college students, and shoppers getting off and on here, there is little to indicate that a terrorist attack...
What’s the cure for the recent ills of the United States Secret Service? American officials might consider taking some advice from their Israeli counterparts at the Shin Bet security agency. White House security breaches have sent the Secret Service scrambling to restructure itself in order to prevent similar or more serious mistakes in the future. But former Israeli security and intelligence officials note that the Shin Bet, which also protects top dignitaries, has virtually the same tactics, rules of engagement, and training procedures as i...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Is the Obama administration preparing the ground for an Iran nuclear deal — one in which both sides can claim victory? Wendy Sherman, the top U.S. negotiator, in an unusually detailed and optimistic speech on Oct. 23, for the first time suggested that the pieces of a deal were in place and all that was needed was Iranian willingness to wrap it up by the Nov. 24 deadline. “I can tell you that all the components of a plan that should be acceptable to both sides are on the table,” Sherman, an undersecretary of state, said at a C...
Conversion reform passes Cabinet vote JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel’s Cabinet approved a government regulation that will reform the conversion process. The regulation, which echoes the controversial conversion bill that for the second time passed the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, was approved on Sunday at the weekly Cabinet meeting. It will have the force of law but can be rescinded by the Cabinet. Only the Jewish Home party’s Uri Ariel, who serves as housing minister, voted against the regulation, The Jerusalem Post reported. The regul...
Rina Avner knew she had found something special when she hit the large stone during an excavation outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. The stone, weighing one ton, had a well-preserved Latin inscription. Researchers say this is among the most important Latin inscriptions ever found in Jerusalem. “First I had a wave of adrenaline surge through me, and then I got all sweaty when I saw the inscription,” Avner told The Media Line as she stood near the giant stone on display in front of the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem for the first time....
Netanyahu reportedly OKs housing plans for Jewish neighborhoods in E. Jerusalem JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly approved planning for at least 1,000 new housing units in Jewish neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem. At least 600 of the apartments will be in Ramat Shlomo and 400 in Har Homa, according to Israeli media reports citing unnamed officials. The approval is only for the planning of the housing units, not the building of them. Netanyahu also reportedly ordered the advancement of infrastructure projects in J...
The skeleton of a woman with a dove-shaped pendant was discovered under the tiles of a collapsed roof by archeologists from the University of Haifa during this excavation season at Hippos-Sussita. They also found a large muscular marble leg and artillery ammunition from some 2,000 years ago. "The data is finally beginning to form a clear historical-archaeological picture," said Dr. Michael Eisenberg, head of the international excavation team. The past 15 excavation seasons at Hippos-Sussita,...
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has issued a security alert to Jewish institutions across the country concerning a potential uptick in the number of online attacks by foreign hackers targeting the websites of synagogues and other Jewish organizations, which could compromise synagogue membership lists and financial data. The latest attack was reported last week. As Jews were celebrating the festival holiday of Sukkot, a hacker group calling itself “Team System Dz” attacked the website of a South Florida synagogue, redirecting visitors to a pag...
ISRAEL21c-In response to urgent pleas from the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the U.S. government and other countries, Israel is sending more than a million shekels' worth of medical equipment, as well as expert personnel to fight the spread of the African Ebola epidemic that has claimed 3,400 lives since March and has infected almost 7,200 people. Gil Haskel, deputy director general of MASHAV-Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation of the Foreign Ministry,...
By Cnaan Liphshiz THE HAGUE (JTA)-For the tour guides that lead visitors through the Van Ostade Housing Project, Fabrice Schomberg's sukkah is one of the few signs of the neighborhood's Jewish roots. Built in the 19th century for impoverished Jews, the enclave today is surrounded by the largely Muslim neighborhood of Schilderswijk, an area that the Dutch media have taken to calling the "Sharia Triangle," referring to Islamic religious law. Fewer than 10 Jewish residents remain and, aside from Schomberg's sukkah, there are virtually no markers...
Penn State students sentenced for vandalizing Jewish frat (JTA)—Two Penn State students who pleaded guilty to spray-painting anti-Semitic graffiti on a mostly Jewish fraternity house were sentenced to community service and probation. Eric Hyland, 20, was sentenced last week in Centre County Court to 200 hours of community service and two years probation, and ordered to pay $6,000 restitution. Last month, Hayden Grom was sentenced to 300 hours of community service and two years probation. Last November, Hyland and Grom spray-painted swastikas a...
It's hard not to take notice of Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz's good mood. After a long, exhausting, and somewhat bitter summer, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff is calm, happy, and at peace with himself and with the world. The 50-day Gaza war, which Gantz says Israel "absolutely" won, is in the rearview mirror. But Gantz still has plenty to worry about. On a tour of Tel Hezka in the Golan Heights for the 41st anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, he says the Israel-Syria border "is just one...
(JTA)-With its panoramic views of Jerusalem, plush seating area and decorative elements, this could be almost any other room at the Inbal Jerusalem Hotel. Except the floor is made of AstroTurf, the walls are made of transparent cloth and the roof is a bamboo mat. Welcome to one of a dozen private sukkahs built on the porches of the five-star hotel's Penthouse Suites. These hotel sukkahs represent the vanguard of holiday hotel luxury in Jerusalem. The sukkah suites carry a price tag of...
As world leaders converged on New York City for the 69th United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to remind them that the threats Israel faces today could be their own problems tomorrow. "Israel is fighting a fanaticism today that your countries might be facing tomorrow," Netanyahu said. In a wide-ranging speech to the 193-member world body that included not only a focus on Islamic terrorism but also on a nuclear Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,...
TEL AVIV (JTA)—For approximately a half hour at the beginning of her El Al Israel Airlines flight last week from New York to Tel Aviv, Elana Sztokman watched as the haredi Orthodox man seated next to her rushed up and down the aisle searching for someone willing to switch seats so he wouldn’t have to sit beside her. On the same route several hours later, another El Al flight was delayed as haredi men stood in the aisles refusing to sit next to women. After takeoff, the men resumed their protest until other seats were found for them. A pas...
West Bank—Pharmacist Raed Qubbaj was busy with a customer when a man working with the Palestinian Preventative Security Forces came into his Ramallah pharmacy and placed him under arrest earlier this month. “He didn’t tell me why and he had no official papers from any court,” the father of three boys told The Media Line. Qubbaj handed over his mobile phone and laptop to the man who had a car waiting outside. He agreed to go, thinking it was all a mistake, and he would be back in a few hours. It was only after he was given a medical exam an...
Wadi Nis, West Bank – As Dr. Yitzchak Glick drives through the steep streets of this West Bank village of some 1000 residents, he is repeatedly stopped by Palestinians residents. Some just want to say hello and shake his hand. Others ask him to stop in and check on a family member. Many of the Palestinians live in large homes, faced with white Jerusalem limestone that is quarried here and sold abroad. But some of the residents like Hosam, a father of six who asked not to give his last name, are poor. In his home, two adults and six children l...
In his office, next to photos of his wife and family, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu keeps a portrait of Theodor Herzl. "He was a prophet. A modern prophet," Netanyahu says, further naming Zionist pioneer Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Israel's first prime minister David Ben-Gurion, and Likud party founder and former prime minister Menachem Begin as equally important Zionist leaders. In an interview with Israel Hayom ahead of Rosh Hashanah, Netanyahu applies those past leaders' experiences to the...
Palestinian Arabs have concentrated many of their terrorist attacks on Jews in Jerusalem, hoping to win the city by an onslaught of suicide bombers who seek to make life in the City of Peace unbearable. But this is not a new tactic. Arab strategy to turn Jerusalem into a battleground began in 1920. Unfortunately, Arab leaders often turn to violence to gain what they were unable to achieve at the negotiating table. When talks broke down at Camp David in 2000, Palestinian Arab leaders unleashed the al-Aqsa Intifada, which amounted to a...
Israeli tourist jailed, fined for flying drone in Paris JERUSALEM (JTA)—An Israeli tourist was arrested and jailed for flying a drone over Paris landmarks. The man, 24, was arrested Oct. 1 in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral, where the drone, equipped with a professional mounted camera, was flying, the French news agency AFP reported. The drone also had flown over the historic Hotel Dieu hospital and a police station. After spending the night in jail, he was levied a nearly $650 fine for “operating an aircraft non-compliant with safety law...
A positive article in the Palestinian Authority’s official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, (Sept. 21, 2014), lauded Israel and Israeli employers of Palestinians for their positive employment ethics towards their Palestinian workers. At the same time, the article condemned Palestinian employers for taking advantage of their workers. The article explains that Palestinian workers get their full rights when employed by Israelis directly and that the only time they do not get their full rights is when there is a Palestinian middleman: “The only cas...
NEW YORK (JTA) – President Obama devoted the bulk of his U.N. speech to the fight against violent Islamic extremism and hardly mentioned Iran's nuclear program. In his address last year to the General Assembly, Obama spent a great deal of time talking about Tehran's nuclear pursuit, describing it as one of two major focus areas for American diplomatic efforts (the other was the Israeli-Palestinian conflict). On Wednesday, he devoted just four lines to Iran. "America is pursuing a diplomatic reso...
