Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Students from a World ORT Kadima Mada Youth Village in Israel scored a historic "first" after their peace-making efforts were acknowledged at a major international forum. A short film, "Peace for Israel," made by teenagers from the Kfar Silver Youth Village, was screened at a UNESCO conference in Paris last month. The 90-second video on the use of drones and robots for peace, which was created by the students at the height of the conflict on the Gaza border in 2018, was selected as one of 10... Full story
Netanyahu wants to face his accusers on TV By Marcy Oster JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants a chance to take on his accusers on live television. Speaking Monday night, the prime minister said that during investigations into the corruption cases against him he “demanded a face-to-face confrontation with states’ witnesses.” He said he was denied several times. “Today I repeat that demand, and as far as I am concerned it should be on live television,” Netanyahu said. His statement was carried live on Israel’s ma... Full story
(JNS)-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed the Obama administration's Mideast policies, which were outlined in a similar venue almost a decade ago, and touted their reversal under U.S. President Donald Trump, saying that "America is a force for good in the Middle East." Without mentioning former President Barack Obama by name, he said at the American University in Cairo: "It was here, in this city, another American stood before you. He told you that radical Islamist terrorism does not... Full story
(JNS)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton on Sunday for the United States to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The prime minister raised the issue with U.S. President Donald Trump and did so on again with Bolton, who is in Israel as part of a trip that also includes visiting Turkey on Monday. “When you’re there, you’ll be able to understand perfectly why we’ll never leave the Golan Heights and why it’s important that all countries recognize Israel’s sovereignty o... Full story
(JNS)—After 18 months of secret research with the help of an international accountancy firm, Israel is preparing to officially demand compensation for assets abandoned by Jews who were forced to flee eight Arab countries after the establishment of the Jewish nation, to the tune of $250 billion. According to a report on Israel’s Hadashot TV news, the demands are being finalized for the first two of eight countries. Israel is preparing to sue Tunisia for $35 billion in lost assets and Libya for $15 billion. In total, Israel will demand $250 bil... Full story
(JNS)—In 2019, a team of Israelis will make history when an unmanned spacecraft they built will launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., destined for the moon. SpaceIL, an Israeli nonprofit organization, has teamed up with defense giant Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to build the spacecraft. When it touches down on the lunar surface, Israel will join an exclusive club consisting of the United States, Russia and China, which have sent spacecraft to Earth’s nearest neighbor. “This is a major sourc... Full story
(JNS) Honduras will be moving ahead with plans to open its Israel embassy in Jerusalem, and Israel is in talks to open its Honduran embassy in Tegucigalpa, following a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo on Tuesday. The meeting occurred on the sidelines of the inauguration of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. According to reports, Israel will upgrade its Honduran consulate to a full-fledged embassy and provide Honduras help on cyber security, water... Full story
(JNS)-Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) displayed a map on her first day in the House of Representatives with a note posted over Israel that reads "Palestine." Buzzfeed reporter Hannah Allam posted on Twitter, "Someone has already made a slight alteration to the map that hangs in Rashida Tlaib's new congressional office. Even before she was sworn in on Thursday-the ceremony of which was attended by Women's March leader and anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour, who has been criticized for not... Full story
(JNS)-Residents of an illegal Bedouin outpost adjacent to Maskiyot were served with demolition orders. But instead of pulling up stakes, they are carrying out a takeover through agricultural projects on state land-land that is registered to the state, straddling the area's major traffic artery, in an area under military closure orders. The Bedouin residents of the illegal outpost, which has grown significantly in recent years thanks to the support it receives from the Palestinian Authority and a... Full story
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA)-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gained pop star status among Brazilians during a five-day visit to the country to attend the inauguration of the country's new president, Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil's most influential prime time newscasts Jornal Nacional and Fantastico dedicated several minutes to coverage of the first sitting Israeli prime minister to visit Brazil. The warm feelings between Israel's right-wing prime minister and Brazil's most right-wing president in... Full story
(JTA)—Earlier this week, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew by what it says is the most distant object ever explored by a spacecraft. But calling the trans-Neptunian object by its official designation of 2014 MU69 was cumbersome and boring for NASA scientists, who considered some 34,000 names as part of a public competition in 2017. Ultima Thule, a name that was nominated by 40 people, won the public poll. It comes from classical and medieval literature and means any distant place located beyond the “borders of the known world.” NASA apparen... Full story
2 swastikas drawn on apartment in Brooklyn By Marcy Oster (JTA)—Two foot-long swastikas were drawn outside the apartment door of an elderly Jewish woman in Brooklyn. Miryam Marc, 77, said her late husband was a Holocaust survivor, and she escaped from Europe to Israel during the Holocaust. The large swastikas were drawn in red marker on either side of Marc’s door on Saturday afternoon, WCBS-TV reported. The apartment building installed security cameras after the incident. “Now I am very, very, very depressed and I am scared even in the night... Full story
(JTA)—Israeli police want him to be indicted in three separate corruption cases. He’s embattled from left and right for his attacks on Gaza and his policy in the West Bank. He’s made a point of cozying up to controversial right-wing nationalist leaders, from Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro to Hungary’s Viktor Orban—and especially to President Donald Trump. Many American Jewish leaders say his policies are driving away Diaspora Jews. And if the upcoming Israeli election were to be held today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would almost definitely... Full story
(JNS)-Republican Rep. Russ Fulcher, 56, defeated Democratic nominee Cristina McNeil in Idaho's 1st Congressional District in the 2018 midterm elections to replace Republican Rep. Raúl Labrador, who unsuccessfully ran for governor of the state. JNS talked with Fulcher by phone. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Q: What is your overall stance on the U.S.-Israel relationship? A: I get that America and Israel have a very unique relationship based on shared cultural-religious... Full story
(JNS)-Many have pointed to Israel's security barrier in Judea and Samaria as being one of the primary contributors to the reduction in Palestinian terrorism since the years of the Second Intifada, from 2000 to 2005. However, a growing chorus of experts disputes this notion, while pointing to the barrier instead being used as a political tool to divide the land. A new study on Israel's separation fence in Judea and Samaria asserts that while the yet-to-be-completed barrier was constructed under t... Full story
(JNS)—The governing partners of Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition voted unanimously on Monday to dissolve the Knesset. New elections are tentatively scheduled for April 9, 2019, four years since the last election, and six months before the previously scheduled election date of Nov. 5, 2019. “In the name of budgetary and national responsibility, party leaders in the coalition agreed unanimously to dissolve the Knesset and go to new elections at the beginning of April, following a full four-year term,” said a government spokesperson on beha... Full story
By Yaakov Lappin (JNS)—It didn’t take long for the recent Israeli Air Force strikes on Iranian or Hezbollah targets in the Damascus area to receive Russian condemnation. Russia issued a public rebuke to Israel, accusing it of conducting “provocative” attacks. The Russians also claimed to reveal operational details about the airstrikes, saying that six Israeli F-16 jets fired missiles at targets in Syria from Lebanese airspace. According to the spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry, the strik... Full story
(JNS)-The last surviving resistance fighter from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 passed away on Dec. 22 in Jerusalem at the age of 94. Simcha Rotem, born Kazik Ratajzer in Warsaw in 1924, joined the Warsaw Ghetto Jewish Combat Organization in 1942, after having been a member of a Zionist youth movement in his teen years and suffering the bombing of his family home by the Germans, which wounded him and his mother and killed his brother and grandparents. Rotem fought under Mark Edelman when the... Full story
(JNS)-Opposition members in the Israeli government cheered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement on Monday that there will be elections next year. "In April, we will win," said Avi Gabbay, leader of the largest opposition party Zionist Union. "In April, we will bring change to Israel." Gabbay said that the elections are "between me and Netanyahu." "I am aware of the weight of responsibility on the prime minister of Israel, and as prime minister I'll lead the State of Israel... Full story
Chabad House in Maryland files federal lawsuit By Marcy Oster (JTA)—A Chabad House serving Towson University in Maryland filed a federal lawsuit against Baltimore County alleging religious discrimination and defamation after a judge affirmed an order to demolish an over 4,000 square-foot addition. Chabad of Towson filed the $10 million lawsuit on Thursday in U.S. District Court. It charges that the order to demolish the significant addition following decisions by the county government, its Board of Appeals and the Circuit Court all violate C... Full story
(JNS)—U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo promised that the United States would stand by its commitment to Israel’s security amid a planned withdrawal of American forces from Syria. “The decision by the president on Syria in no way changes anything that this administration is working on alongside Israel,” Pompeo told Netanyahu during a joint press conference prior to their meeting in Brazil, where the two men are attending the inauguration of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Since U.S. President Donald Trump’s abrupt announcement late last... Full story
(JNS)-Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon warned the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday about the threat Hezbollah poses to the Jewish state, calling the terrorist group a "lifeblood" from Iran. "Hezbollah has built a terror base inside a civilian population, with its end on the Israeli side of the border, all financed by Iran," he said in a special session of the U.N. Security Council. "This not only a clear violation of Resolution 1701, but Hezbollah also uses Lebanese... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel will step up its fight against Iran in Syria after the United States withdraws its troops from her neighbor to the north. “We will continue to take very strong action against Iran’s attempts to entrench itself in Syria. In neither of these sectors do we intend to lessen our efforts; we will intensify them, and I know that we do so with the full support and backing of the U.S.,” Netanyahu said Thursday in a statement to the media. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump launched a full and accelerated pullout of the 2,000 U... Full story
(JNS)-Israel will send a time capsule along with an Israeli spacecraft on the Jewish state's first mission to the moon in 2019. The capsule will consist of the Bible, pictures of Israeli symbols like the flag, Israeli songs, drawings by children and a booklet by a Jewish man about surviving the Holocaust, in addition to other materials. The spacecraft, Beresheet (the Hebrew word for "Genesis"), will launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in February. The time capsule is expected to remain on the... Full story
JERUSALEM (JTA)—SodaStream is setting up a manufacturing plant in Gaza. SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum made the announcement Thursday at a conference in Jerusalem sponsored by the Israeli business publication Globes. He appeared on stage at the conference with Ramon Laguarta, CEO of Pepsico, which acquired the Israeli home-carbonated drinks company this year for $3.2 billion. Laguarta told the conference that he toured the SodaStream plant located near the Bedouin town of Rahat in the Negev Desert in southern Israel and said he was proud of ... Full story
