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Daily Briefing

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 Donate Now | Share This Email

FEATURED STORY Major funding boost for Birthright from Israeli gov't ups ante for philanthropists Israel's announcement that it will more than double its funding for Birthright Israel, the program that brings young Diaspora Jews to Israel on free 10-day trips, means donors must come up with the balance of the cash to reach the goal of 51,000 participants in 2013.Read more » EDITORS' PICKS Fleeing from floods At least a dozen Jewish families in northeastern Australia have been evacuated from their homes as a major flood ripped through Queensland this week, killing at least 12 people. And the worst was still to come, JTA's Dan Goldberg reports. Debunking shooter's nationalist ties Politico follows the chain of events that led to labeling Arizona shooter Jared Lee Loughner a white supremacist, and how that idea was debunked. Funding Israel's defense Two key pro-Israel appropriators say that record funding for missile defense systems in the Middle East remains a top priority despite political pressure to make deep spending cuts, according to The Hill. Birds and sharks and spies, oh my Conspiracy theories involving Israel's Mossad secret service are a Mideast favorite, but not everyone takes them seriously, The Media Line explains. Chasidim go public for peace Chasidim in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, are talking to public school kids about Judaism to counter rising hate crime, the New York Daily News reports. The Eulogizer: David Trager, Ruth Cavin JTA's Appreciation column remembers the judge in the Crown Heights murder case and a mystery novel editor. Bible and beer Welcome to Chabar, a commercial bar and Chabad house rolled into one in the heart of Jerusalem. Ynet reports. Hearing Lieberman's footsteps Benjamin Netanyahu appears to believe it is safer to have Avigdor Lieberman in the coalition than outside of it, but with Lieberman becoming more audacious, the prime minister is speaking up, The Jerusalem Post's Herb Keinon writes in an analysis. BREAKING NEWS Sarah Palin's use of the term "blood libel" to decry blaming conservatives for the Arizona shooting has raised the ire of some in the Jewish community. An analysis of Internet musings by Jared Lee Loughner dismisses speculation that the accused Arizona gunman may have targeted U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords because she is Jewish. Debbie Friedman was eulogized at her funeral by friends, rabbis and fellow musicians in words and through the songs she composed and sang. Former U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz has written to President Obama asking him to release Jonathan Pollard. Cynthia Ozick and Gal Beckerman are among the winners of the 2010 National Jewish Book Awards. Israel will lease firefighting airplanes from Canada as it waits to purchase six new ones from the country at a cost of $200 million. Munich, the Germany city where 11 Israeli athletes were killed at the 1972 Summer Olympics, is bidding to host the 2018 Winter Games. An Israeli Bedouin was arrested on charges of rape and impersonating a Jewish pilot. An Arab-Israeli suspect in a series of killings and attacks in three U.S. states has been bound over for three murder trials in Michigan. Washington-area clergy joined an interfaith prayer service for the release of U.S. government contractor Alan Gross from a Cuban prison. The Union for Reform Judaism has launched two new summer programs for children with special needs. An operative of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization involved in planning a massive attack on Israel was killed in a targeted attack, the Israeli military reported. The benefactor of a controversial Jewish development in eastern Jerusalem is a major donor to U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the new head of the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee. Joe Straus, overwhelmingly re-elected as speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, strongly repudiated attacks on his Jewish faith. Iranian authorities have downgraded the status of the tomb of Esther and Mordechai, while an official state news agency has publicized the Purim story as a Jewish massacre of Iranians. Italian leaders expressed anger and solidarity with the Jewish community after a neo-Nazi Internet forum published a list of "influential" Italian Jews on its website. A large swastika and the word "Nazi" were spray-painted on a Connecticut synagogue. A Dutch teenager who said in an interview that Jews should be exterminated was ordered to do community service in the Anne Frank House.