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Featured Story Polls showing rise of France's Marine Le Pen stir debate among Jews about talking to her The recent extension of an invitation by a French Jewish radio show to National Front leader Marine Le Pen and polls showing her party beating that of French President Nicolas Sarkozy have re-energized a debate in France's Jewish community: Is Le Pen kosher, or is she just trying to whitewash the anti-Semitic legacy of her father, the erstwhile French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen? Read more » Editors' Picks Probing, again, the 'kishkes question' More fraught back-and-forth between the Jewish organizational community and the Obama administration about the naming of a West Bank square and the massacre in Itamar has revived questions about what the president feels in his gut toward Israel and the Jewish people. JTA's Ron Kampeas reports. Is J Street a threat? As the Knesset debates whether or not the 3-year-old dovish lobby J Street is anti-Israel, the vast majority of Israelis questioned in a Forward poll said they had never heard of the group. The BBC, Itamar and an anti-Israel bias British lawmaker Louise Bagshawe writes in the UK newspaper The Telegraph that she was stunned that the BBC barely reported on the slaughter of five members of a Jewish family in Itamar, saying it reflects apparent bias against Israel. Gene Simmons back home -- in Israel More than half a century after leaving Israel as the impoverished 9-year-old son of an Auschwitz death camp survivor, Chaim Witz returned to his birth country this week under different circumstances -- as the mega-millionaire rock star and TV personality Gene Simmons. The Jerusalem Post reports. Questions on Reform's new chief Letters to the editor question the political leanings of the Reform movement's choice of its new leader, Rabbi Richard Jacobs. See the Quibbles & Kibbitz column. The Eulogizer: Danny Stiles, Robert Spiegelman, George Einstein JTA's Appreciation column remembers radio broadcaster Danny Stiles, high school bandleader Robert Spiegelman and Albert Einstein's cousin George Einstein, plus more on Elizabeth Taylor. Breaking News Cross-border attacks between Israel and Gaza continued, with two long-range rockets reaching deep into Israel. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates arrived in Israel, where he is expected to press Israel and the Palestinians to restart peace talks in the wake of increased unrest. AIPAC apologized for a fundraising e-mail that cited a terrorist attack that had occurred just hours before the e-mail blast. The University of Johannesburg's faculty senate voted to cut ties with Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. A Jewish woman who as a baby was hidden from the Nazis in the attic of a Dutch family was reunited in New Zealand with the sons of her rescuer. The American Jewish Committee joined the Anti-Defamation League in saying the Knesset hearings on J Street were inappropriate. Communities or groups that hold events mourning the creation of the nation could be fined under a measure passed by Israel's Knesset. A Quebec court has quashed a bid to shut down a blogger who writes about his neighborhood Chasidic community. The European Commission has awarded about $322,000 to three Jewish organizations and an NGO that monitor and record hate crimes and incidents within the European Union. The protests sweeping the Middle East have been driven by a second revolution -- the empowerment of Arab women -- an Arab journalist told JTA. Israel may seek charges against the journalist who allegedly accepted classified documents from a soldier. JEWISH IDEAS DAILY Sponsored Content The Turkish Model Considering the upheaval in the Arab world, some optimists foresee the emergence of Turkish-style political systems. But how firm is Turkey's own commitment to democratic principles?