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Daily Briefing

Thursday, August 19, 2010 Share This Email

Today's Daily Briefing Sponsored by: You! For only $180, you can use this prominent spot to announce an honor or celebrate a milestone. To make your announcement, click here. FEATURED STORY Hillel students and professionals gear up to face anti-Israel campus activism Jewish students and campus professionals prepare for what they expect will be increased anti-Israel activism on campus this fall. Read more » EDITORS' PICKS UC-San Diego Hillel director reflects on divestment battle Keri Copans, Hillel's campus director at the University of California, San Diego, and Jewish students jumped into action to fight a resolution calling on the school to divest from Israel. They won the battle, but it was an exhausting process that revealed many shortcomings and challenges on the pro-Israel side. In an interview with JTA, Copans reflects on the experience. Op-Ed: The words behind the man behind the mosque Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin writes that the Jewish community has good reason to be worried about the imam behind the effort to build an Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero. Op-Ed: Couple behind Ground Zero mosque a model of tolerance Since beginning to work with the couple behind the planned Islamic center near Ground Zero, Walter Ruby of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding says he found them to be unequivocally opposed to violence and terrorism and deeply committed to the American values of democracy and pluralism. Time to leave the U.N. Human Rights Council Noah Pollak, executive director of the Israel Emergency Committee, argues in Politico that the Obama administration's strategy of joining the U.N. Human Rights Council has only succeeded in giving the worst dictators a U.S. seal of approval. Playing the Jewish mother card in Florida Nathan Guttman of the Forward writes about a billionaire candidate in Florida's Democratic senatorial primary who is airing commercials featuring an endorsement from his mother. Making the El Al-JetBlue partnership work One week after its flight attendant went bananas, JetBlue is teaming up with El Al -- no kidding. Andrew Silow-Carroll imagines the kinds of training the American carrier will need to meet the, um, unique needs of the Israel-bound. George Allen's Jewish roots George Allen, the former Republican senator from Virginia, is expected to give a speech today addressing his Jewish roots, which he says he only learned about in the heat of his failed 2006 election bid. Palestinians seek Holocaust knowledge A handful of grassroots Palestinian groups are seeking to learn about the Holocaust, the Associated Press reports. BREAKING NEWS A poll based on a small sample suggests that Jewish identification with Republicans has surged. Nancy Pelosi called on the group planning an Islamic center near Ground Zero to reveal its funders but said the mosque's opponents should do the same. Israel's military is investigating an IDF officer and soldier suspected of selling goods they confiscated from the Gaza flotilla after the May 31 raid. A Hebrew University professor was one of four winners of a prize considered the Nobel of mathematics. The Jewish Federations of North America has opened voting for its community hero nominees. The U.N. Secretary-General's interim report on investigations into the 2009 Gaza War does not include a direct investigation of Hamas' role. An Obama administration official said direct Israeli-Palestinian talks are on track, but would not set a time frame. A society dedicated to the preservation of Jewish music is releasing an album of African-American renditions of Jewish songs. A 90-year-old Jewish peace activist won the International Peace Award from the United Nations Association of Australia.