Britannia Radio

Daily Briefing

Thursday, July 9, 2009

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Featured Stories Field hockey family affair Ariel Eber recalls her first Maccabiah Games opening ceremonies, in 2005, as "overwhelming and exciting." (QuickStix) Mim Chappell-Eber and Ariel Aber, mother and daughter, bring unique perspectives to the field as coach and player, and as black Jews. Read more » New rules have Diaspora converts waiting on Israel New Israeli regulations that make it more difficult for converts from the Diaspora to obtain Israeli citizenship constitute the latest chapter in the long-running battle over who is a Jew -- a question that repeatedly has strained Diaspora-Israel relations. Read more » Jews, evangelicals get together They talked about Israel and about proselytizing -- but perhaps the most important thing about the recent meeting between nearly 40 Jewish and evangelical Christian leaders was that they were talking at all. Read more » Editors' Picks Conservatives soften on intermarriage The battle among the Conservative Jewish establishment to convert the spouses of intermarried Jews is over, reports Stewart Ain in the New York Jewish Week. Road warriors Vandals in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel are defacing road signs to remove Arabic from the trilingual signs. Now, a group of vigilantes is fighting back. Lod's hidden treasure Can the Israeli city of Lod, a mixed Jewish-Arab city near Tel Aviv that is struggling economically, be revitalized by a 1,700-year old mosaic? The New York Times reports. Trading outposts for settlement blocs If Benjamin Netanyahu insists on keeping illegal settlement outposts, he will be defending lawlessness. And if President Obama refuses to accept that large settlements near the pre-1967 border will become part of Israel, he will be destroying President Clinton's legacy. But if Obama and Netanyahu formulate an outposts-for-blocs policy, they will be serving the interests of their countries and moving toward a realistic peace, writes Ha'aretz columnist Ari Shavit. Capital J: Satmars for Obama Satmars for Obama. Iraqi Palestinians heading to America. What Washington might trade for a settlement freeze. Early jockeying for U.S. Senate seat in Illinois. And more from JTA's Capital J Blog. ©2008 JTA, Inc. Reproduction of material without written permission is strictly prohibited. To unsubscribe, click here.

New rules have Diaspora converts waiting on Israel

New Israeli regulations that make it more difficult for converts from the Diaspora to obtain Israeli citizenship constitute the latest chapter in the long-running battle over who is a Jew -- a question that repeatedly has strained Diaspora-Israel relations. Read more »

Jews, evangelicals get together

They talked about Israel and about proselytizing -- but perhaps the most important thing about the recent meeting between nearly 40 Jewish and evangelical Christian leaders was that they were talking at all. Read more »

Editors' Picks

Conservatives soften on intermarriage The battle among the Conservative Jewish establishment to convert the spouses of intermarried Jews is over, reports Stewart Ain in the New York Jewish Week.

Road warriors Vandals in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel are defacing road signs to remove Arabic from the trilingual signs. Now, a group of vigilantes is fighting back.

Lod's hidden treasure Can the Israeli city of Lod, a mixed Jewish-Arab city near Tel Aviv that is struggling economically, be revitalized by a 1,700-year old mosaic? The New York Times reports.

Trading outposts for settlement blocs If Benjamin Netanyahu insists on keeping illegal settlement outposts, he will be defending lawlessness. And if President Obama refuses to accept that large settlements near the pre-1967 border will become part of Israel, he will be destroying President Clinton's legacy. But if Obama and Netanyahu formulate an outposts-for-blocs policy, they will be serving the interests of their countries and moving toward a realistic peace, writes Ha'aretz columnist Ari Shavit. Breaking News The United States denied a report that it would allow the completion of 2,500 housing units in the West Bank as part of a compromise on settlements. A newly married Jewish Yemeni woman reportedly was kidnapped. A United Nations official called on Israel to tear down the West Bank security fence. Ehud Olmert's former office manager was charged with fraud for her role in the Tax Authority affair. The European Commission retracted a statement that criticized Israeli settlements. The Hillel at Harvard University was defrauded of more than 780,000 by its accountant, the school's newspaper reported. Two operators of Jewish vocational schools settled a lawsuit over which can use the ORT name for fund raising in the United States. Legislation requiring publicly traded companies doing business in Iran to disclose their activities to U.S. investors unanimously passed the House Appropriations Committee. A leader of the anti-Zionist Satmar Chasidic movement praised President Obama's Middle East policy. A Knesset committee approved a "drought tax" to force Israeli households to conserve water. Six nongovernmental organizations and academic institutes demanded that Germany keep its promise to create a commission to combat anti-Semitism. Two Palestinians confessed to killing an Israeli taxi driver for revenge. The Dead Sea advanced in an international competition to name the seven natural wonders of the world. The first of several flights of North American immigrants expected to arrive this summer landed in Israel. Israel will expand the hours that the crossing between the West Bank and Jordan is open. A memorial ceremony for the families of soldiers slain in the second Lebanon War marked three years since the conflict.