Britannia Radio

Daily Briefing

Wednesday, January 5, 2011 Donate Now | Share This Email

Today's Daily Briefing Sponsored by: Andrew Panken Happy Birthday to my husband, Andy, the love of my life and the (2nd) best Tax and Trusts & Estates attorney around. We love you, Barbara, Ali, Lauren and Emmy. To make your announcement, click here right here! FEATURED STORY Journalists' group considers dropping Helen Thomas award After veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas followed up her controversial Jewish-related remarks of last summer with a speech alleging Zionist control of Congress, Wall Street and Hollywood, the Society of Professional Journalists is considering renaming a lifetime achievement award named for her. Read more » EDITORS' PICKS Confessions of a Jewish Christmas JTA Australia correspondent Dan Goldberg writes about offering his home so an ill friend can celebrate Christmas with his family and, in a reciprocal gesture, taking Communion at church. Finding Steven Cohen Will the real Steven Cohen please stand up? The world is filled with accomplished Steven Cohens, or so it might seem when entering the realms of academia or public policy, The New York Times reports. The Dubai job One year ago, an elite Mossad hit squad allegedly traveled to Dubai to kill a high-ranking member of Hamas. GQ reporter Ronen Bergman reveals the details of the mission and investigates how the mission went wrong for Israel's vaunted spy agency. The Stuxnet deterrent What's the best way to prevent Iran from realizing its atomic ambitions? Attack effectively and keep quiet using malware warfare, Charley Levine writes in the Washington Times. The Eulogizer: Helen Rosner, Roy Neuberger, Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt JTA's Appreciation column remembers a Schindler Jew, financier-art collector and Israeli sociologist. 'Self-dealing' at J Street The lobby, which calls itself "pro Israel, pro peace," has paid tens of thousands of dollars to a consulting firm co-owned by founder and president Jeremy Ben-Ami, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times. Punching for peace The Washington Post reports on a Jerusalem boxing club in a converted bomb shelter in a low-income Jewish neighborhood that unites Jews and Arabs in and out of the ring. Hebrew typeface for the future Graphic designer Oded Ezer hopes his new Hebrew typeface, Rutz, will do what 50 years of fonts haven't done -- join the language's staples, Haaretz reports. BREAKING NEWS New York City snow removal trucks dumped tons of snow from the area's recent blizzard into the city's largest Jewish cemetery, toppling 21 headstones. Israel told the United States in 2008 that it planned to keep Gaza's economy "on the brink of collapse," according to a diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks. Lawyers for convicted former Agriprocessors executive Sholom Rubashkin are appealing a judge's decision denying their bid for a new trial. Lebanon has asked the United Nations to make sure that Israel does not encroach on energy resources in its territorial waters. Money woes apparently have caused the shutdown of the Vineland Kosher Poultry plant in southern New Jersey. Israel's Knesset voted to form a parliamentary committee to investigate left-wing Israeli organizations that criticize the Israeli military's actions. Ron Klain, Vice President Joe Biden's chief of staff, is resigning. The Australian government is appealing a court ruling that spared an alleged Nazi war criminal from being extradited to Hungary. Haifa is poised to be the next home to a Disney amusement park. Jews in Germany must stop emphasizing their role as victims and develop their positive Jewish identity, said Dieter Graumann, the new head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. A Southern California synagogue is having its third annual "blessing of the animals."