Britannia Radio

Daily Briefing

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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Featured Stories Some Jewish settlers turning against Israel Yisrael Ariel stands overlooking the West Bank settlement of Yizhar on Dec. 11, 2008. (Brian Hendler) Confident they are following the word of God, a small but vocal and increasingly violent constituency of the Jewish settler movement has become the face of radical Jewish nationalism in Israel. Read more » As Jewish camp season starts, swine flu threat looms Though no longer leading evening news reports, the swine flu -- which recently was upgraded to a pandemic -- has gradually but persistently been making its way into the Jewish community. Read more »

Jewish Agency clears way for Sharansky

While publicly taking steps to eliminate the influence politicians may wield in the Jewish Agency for Israel, the agency also cleared the way for a new chairman -- the choice of Israel's prime minister. Read more »

Editors' Picks

M.J. Rosenberg, neocons & Iran The Israel Policy Forum's M.J. Rosenberg says hawks have been smearing Iran. JTA's Ami Eden says Rosenberg is smearing neocons.

Madoff's biggest recipient Jeffry Picower, who gave heavily to Jewish causes through his family foundation, made $5 billion by investing in Bernard Madoff's fraudulent securities fund and may have been Madoff's largest beneficiary, according to ProPublica.

Why did Obama go public on settlements? Because getting Israel to take action against settlements is a lot easier than getting the Palestinians to do anything, writes Michael Tomasky in New York magazine.

The swine flu wedding Joshua Davidovich writes in Ha'aretz about the Jewish swine flu wedding that took place last week in Chicago.

Israel's new demand With Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence on recognition of Israel's status as a Jewish state, Israel has inserted a new condition into peace negotiations, writes Howard Schneider of The Washington Post.

Nixon on the Jews In newly released tapes from the Nixon presidency, Richard Nixon is recorded as saying that if the Jews simply "behaved" themselves, there wouldn't be any problems. JTA's Eric Fingerhut highlights more of the former president's remarks on Jews and provides a link to the recordings on the Capital J blog Breaking News Two former Israeli Cabinet members were sentenced to prison terms. Richard Nixon and the Rev. Billy Graham believed Jewish opposition to Christian evangelism efforts would foster anti-Semitism. President Obama will send a U.S. ambassador back to Syria, according to reports. A meeting scheduled for this week between Benjamin Netanyahu and George Mitchell in Paris was canceled. An ex-candidate in Canada is suing the country's leading Jewish advocacy groups, alleging they ruined her political career. Jewish housing in eastern Jerusalem is not part of the Obama administration's demand for a settlement freeze, the State Department clarified. A lawyer who won reparations for Holocaust survivors in the 1990s was disbarred in New Jersey after he swindled some of the very survivors he helped. Israeli agencies shackle Palestinian detainees in painful ways that amount to torture and ill treatment, an Israeli rights group claims. A swastika was painted on the doors of a Jewish community center in southern Siberia in Russia. Prison inmates in Poland will help clean up and maintain the nation's Jewish cemeteries. About 50 young Jewish and Catholic leaders gathered near Rome at a conference sponsored by Vatican and Jewish interfaith bodies. A Jerusalem city-owned parking lot will be open on Shabbat, the city's mayor announced. The Anti-Defamation League is urging the Justice Department to investigate whether a U.S.-based group is raising money for Hamas. Eitan Chemerinski of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md., was named the 2008-09 National Player of the Year by a Jewish basketball service. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the Iranians protesting the results of the recent elections. Australia's national public broadcaster has apologized for a report that claimed Israel's security fence was ruled to be illegal by the Supreme Court. The Odessa Holocaust Museum was dedicated in a special ceremony. Kiev's City Council renamed a street to honor a Ukrainian politician assassinated by a Jewish man in a revenge killing.