Britannia Radio

FEATURED STORIES Opponents alarmed as Israeli conversion bill moves ahead David Rotem, chairman of the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, pushed a controversial conversion bill through the committee by a 5-4 vote on July 12, 2010. (Flash90 / JTA) Opponents of a controversial bill that could give the Orthodox Rabbinate the final say over conversions in Israel are trying to keep the bill from moving ahead in the Israeli Knesset after its surprise introduction and passage by a Knesset committee. Read more » Facing confrontation on Israel, Presbyterian Church manages a compromise Facing a confrontation over a proposal to back divestment and sanctions against Israel, the Presbyterian Church (USA) managed to reach a compromise that both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups praised as evenhanded. Read more » Campaign to bring thousands more Falash Mura gains steam After months of fits and starts, advocates for Ethiopian aliyah are hoping that a visit to Ethiopia by a key Israeli official will help convince the prime minister to authorize the aliyah of thousands of additional Ethiopians. Read more » Op-Ed: Standing with Muslims to fight Islamophobia Rabbi Marc Schneier, echoing his remarks at the Organizations for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Conference on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination, says he feels a profound moral obligation to prevent the horrors that have befallen the Jewish people from striking Muslims.Read more »

EDITORS' PICKS Disco dancing at Auschwitz (Telegraph, YouTube) Some Holocaust survivors are objecting to a viral video of a survivor and his daughter and grandchildren boogeying at concentration camps to the Gloria Gaynor disco hit "I Will Survive." JTA's Ami Eden weighs in. Still life in Gaza (N.Y. Times) There's little hunger, but also little hope in the Gaza Strip, where the people have as much anger at Palestinian leaders and the Arab world as they have at Israel, The New York Times reports. What higher ed can do for the Mideast (Chronicle of Higher Education) Cornell University's president blogs about his trip to Israel and the West Bank. Preparing for war (Haaretz) Is Israel prepared for its next battle with Hezbollah? BREAKING NEWS An Israeli man from Skokie, Ill., and three of his grandchildren were killed when the plane he was piloting crashed. Protesters of Israel's Gaza blockade delayed an Israel-bound flight from Athens International Airport for about two hours. The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation will establish a $10 million fund for emergency services for Holocaust survivors in North America. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak reportedly may have had reasons other than poor health to postpone his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Conservatives launched a group to wage a campaign against President Obama's Middle East policy and its supporters. The captain of a Gaza-bound Libyan aid ship told Israel's Navy he will dock at an Egyptian port. A group of Israelis has filed a $1.2 billion lawsuit in U.S. federal court against the Al Jazeera news network. Johnny "Rotten" Lydon, the former Sex Pistols front man, will not cancel his Aug. 31 show in Tel Aviv despite receiving hate mail. U.S. Congress members signed a letter expressing concern about how the federal Department of Education is responding to anti-Semitism on college campuses. Reaching out to Muslims is not the task of NASA, the White House spokesman said. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum praised the International Criminal Court for including genocide charges against Sudan's president. Israeli authorities arrested an extreme rightist on suspicion of murdering two Palestinians in 1998. A Lebanese court sentenced an alleged spy for Israel to death. J Street called for an investigation into American charities that fund Israeli settlement activity. President Obama nominated Jacob Lew, an Orthodox Jew, as director of the Office of Management and Budget.