’67 lines vs. Palestinian state?

Netanyahu tries some political maneuvering


JERUSALEM — In the neverending game of diplomatic chess played by Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently made a new move to try to outflank the Palestinians. On Aug. 2, he said that Israel is ready to use the pre-1967 lines as a rough starting point for discussion of a Palestinian state – if the Palestinians recognize […]

Housing protests roil Israel as tent cities pop up




TEL AVIV – On Rothschild Boulevard, Tel Aviv’s version of Park Avenue, a burgeoning tent city has sprung up amid crowded cafes and under its canopy of ficus trees. Squatters are protesting soaring housing prices in the country, and have galvanized a full-scale national protest, from Kiryat Shemona in the north to Beersheva in the south, that has plunged the […]

Tampa’s Hillel School gets new name



After 41 years, the Hillel School of Tampa has changed its name and logo, but it is not changing its commitment to academic achievement. The school is now known as Hillel Academy. “We wanted our name to reflect our academics as well as our Jewish identity,” said Amy Wasser, Hillel head of school. One of the reasons for the name […]

Now approved, Ben Gamla public charter school looking for location, principal




A free public charter school that teaches Hebrew as a second language should open in Pinellas County by August 2012 after approval by the school board, according to its founder, Peter Deutsch. The Pinellas County School Board approved the application of the Ben Gamla charter school at its July 27 meeting on a 7-0 vote. “I’m 99.9 percent sure the […]

JTA news service



‘All hands’ needed to repel Palestine bid WASHINGTON – Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, told Jewish Democrats that Israel needs “all hands on deck” ahead of a Palestinian push for statehood. Oren in a conference call Monday, Aug. 8, with the National Jewish Democratic Council leadership also called for bipartisanship, saying it is in Israel’s strategic interest. […]

Kids at Camp Kadima embrace counselor who shares love for Israeli homeland




Hadas Simchi spent the summer teaching kids in Pinellas County about “My Israel.” “That’s how I like to call it,” says the 21-year-old from Hadera, Israel who was the shlicha – Hebrew for emissary – this summer at the JCC Suncoast’s Camp Kadima. Simchi is a Camp Kadima veteran, having been a counselor the previous summer when her Israeli army […]

Glenn Beck and the Jews

Does he get them? Do they get him?


WASHINGTON — Does Glenn Beck get Jews? It depends on whom you ask — to a degree – but it also seems to depend on the day of the week. Here he is on the night of July 19: “The Jewish people have been chased out of almost every country on this planet,” he told a crowd of thousands at […]

Clarification



An article in the July 15 Jewish Press about Soviet Jews resettling in the Tampa Bay area referred to Dr. Sabrina Kunis and her family as being the first Soviet Jews to resettle in Tampa. In actuality they were the first immigrants in the Soviet Jewish resettlement in Tampa after Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika reforms. Other Jewish families were resettled earlier […]

50 years later, Kirk Douglas wins tribute for breaking Hollywood blacklist




LOS ANGELES – Ask Kirk Douglas for the proudest accomplishment in his 94 years and the iconic actor cites his actions in breaking the infamous Hollywood blacklist. Douglas did so by giving writer Dalton Trumbo full credit for the script of the movie Spartacus, normally a routine acknowledgment. But in 1960, openly employing an accused communist or communist sympathizer was […]

Rabbinically Speaking

Jews & the Earth: A partnership


I write this column during a sweltering August day. Temperatures and humidity in Florida are always high during this time of the year. It seems to me, however, that the weather this year is even more unpleasant than it was last year and that the entire nation is suffering from a terrible heat wave. I also recall last year being […]