Britannia Radio

Daily Briefing

Monday, June 20, 2011

FEATURED STORY Argentine gov't official joins campaign to expose junta's anti-Semitic past An Argentine government official is joining a prominent Jewish banker to expose an anti-Semitic chapter in the country's past with new charges against former Argentine leaders.Read more » EDITORS' PICKS A Connecticut senator in Glenn Beck's court JTA's Ron Kampeas reviews the back and forth over Sen. Joseph Lieberman's plans to attend Glenn Beck's rally in Jerusalem. A Jewish pregnancy crisis center and an abortion debate A Maryland center set up to encourage pregnant Jewish women to keep their babies, not abort them, has Jews divided, Religion News Service reports. Libya's Jewish ghosts Libya's Jewish community is gone. What remains are ruins, communal buildings seized for other uses, fading memories and a Libyan Jewish diaspora that is both nostalgic and embittered, the Associated Press reports. Day school stasis Fourteen years after the founding of the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education and $65 million later, "the number of American Jewish students attending Jewish day schools outside the ultra-Orthodox community has barely budged," the Forward reports. A Holocaust center with a Muslim at the helm and a controversy brewing The Holocaust center at a Catholic college in the Bronx is getting a Muslim director and broadening its focus to include other genocides, spurring debate, The New York Jewish Week reports. Disillusioned rabbinical students are the least of Israel's problems The debate about rabbinical students and their relationship with Israel should not be about the students -- it should be about Israel, a rabbinical student and a Jewish educator write on the blog Jewschool. Reaffirming partition at the United Nations Rather than planning on vetoing a Palestinian statehood resolution at the United Nations, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman writes, the United States should try to craft a resolution to reaffirm the principle of a Jewish state alongside an Arab state and the need for negotiations to resolve outstanding issues. An island of chutzpah amid a cautious foreign policy The Obama administration has been cautious in its Middle East policy, writes The Washington Post's Jackson Diehl, except with regard to Israeli-Palestinian affairs, where it has demonstrated "superpower chutzpah -- the brazen disregard for the views and political posture of this Israeli government, and the fecklessness and disarray of the current Palestinian leadership." The Eulogizer: Yelena Bronner and Charlotte Bloomberg JTA's Appreciation column remembers Yelena Bronner, a human rights activist and the wife of Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, and Charlotte Bloomberg, the mother of New York City's mayor. What do you know about conversion to Judaism? MyJewishLearning.com has a quiz that lets you test your knowledge of Jewish conversion. JEWISH IDEAS DAILY Sponsored Content The Tourist's Dilemma Nazi concentration and death camps are sites of pilgrimage and remembrance—which means that countries with more favorable historical records miss out on tourism revenues. e

Israeli hoopster Naama Shafir competed in the European women's championship wearing skin-toned elastic sleeves. A Jewish congressman and three Lebanese-American colleagues are co-sponsoring a bill to eliminate U.S. aid to Lebanon if Hezbollah stays in the ruling government. Thousands of fans packed a stadium just a few miles from the Auschwitz death camp for a concert by the Chasidic reggae artist Matisyahu. Soviet human rights activist Yelena Bonner, who was married to the late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, has died. Toronto's municipal council passed a motion to rewrite and update its anti-discrimination policy so "Israeli apartheid" and other terms would violate city standards. A Facebook page established to convince pop star Shakira to stay away from an Israeli conference has received nearly 1,500 likes. A fire on the Golan Heights damaged nearly 500 acres, including nature reserve territory and grazing land. Eight military jet engines were stolen from an airbase near Tel Aviv. Israel is holding a countrywide, weeklong civil defense drill simulating a massive attack on the country. The World Jewish Congress has confirmed the appointment of Dan Diker as the organization's secretary general. Former Duke University standout Jon Scheyer has signed to play with Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv team. United Jewish Communities of MetroWest, N.J. has launched a new endowment campaign that will match community needs with donor interests.