Britannia Radio

Daily Briefing

Monday, January 31, 2011 Donate Now | Share This Email

FEATURED STORY Israel 'anxiously monitoring' Egyptian riots, Netanyahu says Israel is "anxiously monitoring" developments in Egypt and throughout the region, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his first official comments on the situation.Read more » EDITORS' PICKS Hoenlein: ElBaradei a 'stooge' for Iran Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice-president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, has called Mohammed ElBaradei, the opposition leader emerging from the Egyptian revolt, a "stooge of Iran," JTA's Ron Kampeas reports, citing an interview with Yeshiva World News on the Egyptian crisis. Gabe Zimmerman's Jewish story Gabe Zimmerman, the aide to Gabrielle Giffords who died in the attack on her, was not Jewish -- but he had served as a counselor at a Yiddishist summer camp founded by the Jewish section of the American Communist Party, the Forward reports. Fighting the delegitimization battle It's not clear whether a strategy that relies on what is essentially the standard activist toolkit will be enough to set back the campaign of delegitimizing Israel, JTA's Ben Harris writes. Glenn Beck's Jewish obsession Washington Post Op-Ed columnist Dana Milibank questions how much longer Glenn Beck's "brutal routine" can continue at Fox News now that political speech has come under new scrutiny. Turkey remembers the Holocaust In a rare show of unity with Istanbul's dwindling Jewish community, Turkish government officials attended the country's first official commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Reuters reports. Rabbi reporting for duty Rabbi Laurence Bazer, a lieutenant colonel with the Massachusetts National Guard who leads a congregation of 500 families, has been called to serve in Afghanistan -- his first deployment after 22 years in the military, reports the MetroWest Daily News. The Eulogizer: Edger Tafel and Rabbi Nachum Zev Dessler JTA's Appreciation column remembers Edgar Tafel, an architect with Frank Lloyd Wright, and Rabbi Dessler, a nationally known leader in Orthodox education. Yiddishe demise at Maryland The University of Maryland is eliminating its Yiddish program, reports New Voices, but other schools say even budget cuts won't threaten the language.

BREAKING NEWS Israel has denied an Al Jazeera report that Egypt had requested Israel to send riot-dispersal gear and that two airplanes had landed in Cairo with the equipment. Jewish students at Rutgers University and their supporters who turned out to protest a campus event sponsored by anti-Zionist groups said an admission fee to the event was levied only on them. The trustee for the Bernard Madoff estate has sued the owners of the New York Mets, claiming they should have known the money made with Madoff was done so nefariously. The special rapporteur of the United Nations on the Palestinians, U.S. academic Richard Falk, denied accusations that he supported 9/11 conspirac theories. Rabbi David Nesenoff, whose impromptu interview with journalist Helen Thomas led to her resignation, has been named the publisher and editor of The Jewish Star. A Jewish grandfather from Melbourne won the world's second-largest poker tournament. Paraguay joined several Latin and South American states in recognizing a Palestinian state. Three teens admitted to vandalizing a Jewish cemetery in Hungary. Mike Huckabee is the second likely Republican candidate for U.S. president to visit Israel this month. Israeli shooters killed two Palestinian teenagers in separate incidents in the West Bank. Israel signed an agreement with the European Space Agency on space cooperation for peaceful purposes. New Brazilian President Dilma Russeff said at a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony that "The Holocaust is not and will never be just a historic moment." The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has given the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology a $5 million grant to further develop a light, long-lasting and environmentally friendly battery for energy storage. An Australian man who posted an anti-Semitic video on YouTube has been found guilty of racial hatred. Israeli filmmakers Erez Kav-El and Talya Lavie received awards at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.