St. Petersburg, FL 33707 St. Petersburg, FL Avenue 6416 Central Tampa Jewish Press of Inc. Bay, Tampa The Jewish Press Group of www.jewishpresstampa.com VOL.33, NO. 9 TAMPA, FLORIDA A NOVEMBER 20 - DECEMBER 3, 2020 12 PAGES Pompeo visits settlements; sets policy on BDS, ‘made in Israel’ (JTA) – Mike Pompeo became the Pompeo also said that the Trump ad- first U.S. secretary of state to visit both ministration will cut ties with any The Jewish Press Group an Israeli settlement in the West Bank groups that support the boycott Is- PAID U.S. POSTAGE of Tampa Bay, Inc. Bay, Tampa of PRESORTED and the Golan Heights, a disputed area rael movement, (commonly known STANDARD on Israel’s border with Syria that the as Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Trump administration has recognized movement or BDS) which the U.S. as part of Israel. will officially consider anti-Semitic. Twitter Pompeo Mike Photo At a news conference Thursday, Later in the day, he visited the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo leads a delegation to the Nov. 19, in Jerusalem with Israeli Psagot winery in a settlement near West Bank town of Qasr al-Yahud, the site where tradition Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, POMPEO continued on PAGE 11 holds that Jesus was baptized. VACCINE HEROES JustJust aaJTA newsnosh..nosh.. service In-person Hanukkah party planned at White House Israeli scientist Immigrant helps make WASHINGTON – The White House is throwing an in- person Hanukkah party, one of a series of recent events at Moderna history with Pfizer’s vaccine the Trump administration has held despite coronavirus concerns. By GABE FRIEDMAN ting case records by The reception will be held Dec. 9 in the afternoon, oversees push JTA news service the week – but also a day before the holiday’s first candle lighting, accord- When Mikael the fact that the Pfiz- ing to an invitation obtained by the Jewish Telegraphic Dolsten, the head er product is part of Agency. for vaccine scientist at Pfizer, a groundbreaking President Donald Trump has come under fire for heard the news that new type of vac- holding a number of crowded events at the White JTA news service and staff report Moderna Chief Medical the COVID-19 vac- cines made quickly House, including several that are believed to have Officer Tal Zaks As the American drug cine that he has been from synthetic ver- spread the coronavirus. company Moderna announced Nov. 16. helping to develop sions of the virus’ Jewish staff held semi-formal Hanukkah parties dur- that it had developed a In an interview last month for the better part of genetic material. ing the Clinton administration, but George W. Bush was COVID-19 vaccine that is with the Jerusalem Post, Zaks But when Dolsten the first president to make them a formal event. Presi- a year was over 90 dent Barack Obama continued the tradition, increasing 94.5 percent effective, Israeli said he moved to the United percent effective, he took time to reflect scientist Tal Zaks was among States because it offered him Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer’s the parties to two per year to meet demand. Trump and his colleagues on the development, also has held two Hanukkah parties each year of his the company leaders touting a greater chance to “fulfill my chief scientist, is a Jew he also saw it as a literally leapt with from Sweden. presidency. the good news to the media. dream and translate science joy at a corporate of- proud moment for That’s because Zaks, into medicine.” fice in Connecticut. Jewish immigrants like himself Orthodox group asks Supreme Court to who earned a doctorate at “I hope that Israel will “This may turn out to be one who have contributed to Ameri- block COVID restrictions on synagogues Ben-Gurion University in continue to develop its bio- of the biggest medical advances can scientific innovation. After several challenges to pandemic-induced re- Beersheba, is the chief medical tech sector. Wherever I can be of the past 100 years,” Dolsten “A lot of the great break- strictions on houses of worship citing religious liberty, officer at Moderna and has most effective is where you’ll said by Zoom from his home of- throughs in America have come an Orthodox Jewish advocacy group is taking its case been involved in overseeing find me,” the 54-year-old fice earlier this month, the emo- from people that immigrated,” to the U.S. Supreme Court in the hopes that the new its unprecedentedly rapid push scientist said. tion clear in his voice and on his he said, pointing out the exam- conservative majority will rule in its favor. for a coronavirus vaccine. The previous month, Zaks face. ple of Albert Einstein and others. Agudath Israel, an umbrella organization representing “It’s one of the greatest told the Post that his 80-year- He was pointing to not only “There has been a strong Jewish haredi Orthodox Jews, is challenging New York Gov. An- moments of my life and my old mother lives in Raanana, the historic need to medically tradition around contributing to drew Cuomo’s limitations on houses of worship in “red career,” Zaks told CNN after Israel, and that the virus combat a virus that’s again rav- humanity and a strong tradition zones,” areas with especially high COVID test positivity the stunning results of the within medicine.” rates. Agudath Israel claims that they were implemented derailed his plans to see her aging the world – particularly in a way that discriminated on the basis of religion. clinical trial were announced ZAKS continued on PAGE 8 the United States, which is set- DOLSTEN continued on PAGE 11 Last month, a federal judge ruled against Agudath Israel’s request for an injunction against the red zone re- strictions, saying the restrictions did not violate religious What to watch from Biden on issues Jews care about liberties. Agudath Israel is appealing the case to the Supreme By RON KAMPEAS Court, which gained a jurist sympathetic to religious JTA news service liberty arguments when Amy Coney Barrett was ap- WASHINGTON – On Joe Biden’s first day as president, pointed. “Given the new make-up of the court, the he plans to launch a task force to reunite children and parents plaintiffs think there are now enough justices interested separated at the country’s southern border. in issuing emergency relief and providing broader con- It’s one of several ways Biden has vowed to reverse poli- stitutional guidance on what government is prohibited cies put in place by President Donald Trump, and it’s impor- from doing even in the midst of a global pandemic,” Mi- tant to many American Jews for whom immigration policy chael Helfand, associate dean for faculty and research carries an emotional weight. at Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law, said But on many issues important to American Jews, change in an email. may come slower, or not at all. When it comes to where the Agudath Israel claims that Cuomo did not provide specific numbers related to the COVID rates in the af- U.S. Embassy in Israel is located, for example, Biden has fected areas or scientific justification for the restrictions, indicated that he has no intention to turn back the clock. On and that some non-Jewish areas with higher positivity other Israel issues, change is likely but exactly what a Biden rates were not subject to the same restrictions. administration will try to do is not yet clear. “While we continue to emphasize safety in our com- Here’s a look at what might happen after Biden becomes munities, government cannot, under the guise of health, president on Jan. 20, 2021. be allowed to have one set of rules for religious activi- The Abraham Accords: Biden’s message since the elec- ties and another rulebook for secular activities,” said tion has been unity. He wants to achieve comity with Repub- Avrohom Weinstock, Agudath Israel’s chief of staff. licans. One obvious way that his commitment to bipartisan- Andrew Harnik by /POOL/AFP via Getty Images ship will play out in his Middle East policy is in the Abraham Israeli agents assassinated al-Qaeda’s US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris deliver remarks in Accords, the normalization agreements brokered by Trump second-in-command, report says Wilmington, DE, on Nov. 7. BIDEN continued on PAGE 3 Two Israeli agents on a motorcycle killed the second- in-command of al-Qaeda in Tehran, the New York Times reported. FBI: Anti-Semitic hate crimes rose 14 percent in 2019 Citing anonymous intelligence officials from an un- identified country or countries, the report said the killing JTA news service and staff report murders overall more than dou- lar to the 938 in 2017. In 2019, one person exactly six months of Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah three months ago was done The number of anti-Semitic bled nationwide last year. hate crimes against Jews com- after the October 2018 syna- at the behest of the United States. hate crimes in the United States But the Anti-Defamation prised 62 percent of all hate gogue shooting in Pittsburgh in Abdullah, also known as Abu Muhammad al-Masri, increased significantly in 2019, League cautioned that the FBI’s crimes based on religion, up which 11 Jews were murdered. is believed to have masterminded deadly attacks on according to the FBI, in a year numbers probably represent just from 58 percent in both of the In December, a shooting in two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 that that saw three lethal attacks a fraction of total hate crimes previous two years.