Britannia Radio

Daily Briefing

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

FEATURED STORY Supreme Court to consider Jerusalem passport question, 'ministerial exception' cases Among the cases to watch when the Supreme Court reconvenes next October: Whether an American born in Jerusalem may list his birthplace as Israel in his passport and how widely religious institutions may apply the “ministerial exception” from discrimination laws in hiring decisions. Read more » EDITORS' PICKS Religious exemptions and the N.Y. gay marriage debate The debate in New York over including religious exemptions in a same-sex marriage bill may serve as a lesson for other states, JTA's Alex Weisler reports. Will Palestinian statehood push backfire? Will U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state isolate Israel, or could it leave Palestinians worse off than before? JTA's Leslie Susser looks at the stakes. Redistricting reform and the gerrymandered Jewish legislator California Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman aren't the only Jewish lawmakers whose political worlds will likely be shaken up by redistricting reform, JTA's Daniel Treiman writes on The Telegraph blog. Texting on Shabbat Many Orthodox teens have taken to texting on Shabbat, The New York Jewish Week reports: "The practice has become so widespread -- some say half of Modern Orthodox teens text on Shabbat -- that it has developed its own nomenclature -- keeping 'half Shabbos.'" Sharansky remembers Bonner The Forward speaks with famed refusenik Natan Sharansky about his fellow Jewish Soviet dissident, the late Yelena Bonner, who he recalls was angry at the free world for failing to support Israel. A personal essay or an 'anti-Israel case'? Allison Benedikt, the author of a much-discussed recent essay on growing distant from her Zionist youth movement roots, responds at length to one of her loudest critics, Atlantic blogger Jeffrey Goldberg, who dismisses her response as making an "anti-Israel case." Displacing realistic Zionism Writing in Haaretz, Avirama Golan argues that a pro-settler discourse has "vanquished the Zionist perception of reality." Fayyad isn't magic "If Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's political career came to an end today, he could still proudly claim to be Palestine's most accomplished prime minister ever," writes Nathan Brown in Foreign Policy. But, he adds: "judged by the enormous expectations and hoopla his Western cheerleaders burdened him with, Fayyad will leave only disappointment behind him." One difference between Chasidim and Brooklyn hipsters Shulem Deen moved to the Brooklyn hipster mecca of Bushwick and discovered that his new neighbors aren't nearly as friendly as the Chasidim among whom he was raised, the former Chasid writes in Tablet. Crowd-sourcing a Nazi photog's identity The identity of a photographer responsible for a mysterious album that included images of Nazi leaders and of Nazi victims has been discovered, The New York Times Lens blog reports.

BREAKING NEWS Egypt has relaunched its investigation into Ilan Grapel, the dual U.S.-Israeli citizen arrested in Egypt on spying charges. Lithuania's parliament agreed to pay $52 million over 10 years to compensate for properties confiscated from Luthianian Jews by the Nazis and Soviets. Republican senators urged President Obama to suspend U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority unless Hamas recognizes Israel and renounces terrorism. Israel's Air Force destroyed what it called a "terror tunnel" in the central Gaza Strip in response to two rockets fired from Gaza that struck southern Israel. Israel will allow the construction of 1,200 new homes and 18 schools in the southern Gaza Strip. Police are investigating allegations of sexual abuse by a former teacher at a Jewish boys’ school in Melbourne who is currently in a U.S. prison. Pop star Shakira, comedian Sarah Silverman and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales helped open the third Israeli Presidential Conference with President Shimon Peres. Israel's government has asked Apple Inc. to remove from its App Store an application called "ThirdIntifada" that encourages an uprising against Israel. Fashion designer John Galliano went on trial in Paris for making anti-Semitic and racist remarks to patrons at a local cafe. The directors of the Oscar-winning documentary "Strangers No More" brought their statuettes to the Israeli school that was the subject of the film. Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger said he'll say Kaddish for jailed spy Jonathan Pollard's father, who was buried Monday. H&H Bagels, the no-frills bagel shop that for decades was a beloved fixture of Manhattan's Upper West Side, is reportedly closing its doors. A Palestinian art academy has put a $7 million Picasso painting on display.