Britannia Radio

Daily Briefing

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

FEATURED STORY After doctors' strike, Israelis take stock of health care system's woes Israel's doctors' strike highlighted larger problems with the country's health care system, which increasingly has shifted toward private care. Read more » EDITORS' PICKS Standing up to Erdogan If Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan tries to force America to choose between Turkey and Israel, the White House must send a clear signal that Erdogan will be the big loser, writes Jason Epstein, a former member of the public relations team for the Turkish Embassy in Washington, in a JTA Op-Ed. My day as a suspicious person Shoshana Hebshi, who has one Jewish parent and one Arab parent, recounts in an essay for JTA being hauled off an airplane on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Will the statehood push lead to violence? (Tablet) Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff examine whether the Palestinian statehood push will spark violence or, alternatively, nonviolent mass demonstrations that could prove equally vexing for Israel. The specter of Israeli isolation (Israel Hayom) Israel is not really as isolated as many people think, writes former Israeli diplomat Dore Gold. Abbas' moment (Haaretz) At the age of 76, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas "has suddenly got the world in his hands, or at least at his feet," Chemi Shalev writes. The limits of faith-based voting (Daily Beast) Michael Medved says that Texas Gov. Rick Perry should learn a lesson about the limits of faith-based appeals from the recent New York congressional election, in which many Jews voted against the Jewish candidate, Assemblyman David Weprin. The minds of Nazis (BBC) A German Jew who worked as a U.S. military translator recalls carrying out psychological tests on leading Nazis after World War II. Transatlantic: Rethinking WUJS, Budapest's Jewish youth, EUJS's agenda JTA's roving European correspondent Alex Weisler reports on a new plan for the World Union of Jewish students, visits with a Hungarian Jewish youth group and looks at what the European Union of Jewish Students has on its agenda. The Eulogizer: Actress Frances Bay JTA's Appreciation blog remembers actress Frances Bay, who played the old lady mugged for a marble rye by Jerry Seinfeld and was Fonzi's Grandma Nussbaum on "Happy Days." What do you know about Bible characters? MyJewishLearning has a quiz on Bible characters, from Adam to Zechariah. JEWISH IDEAS DAILY Sponsored Content Rosh Hashanah with the Chief Rabbi In his contributions to the new holiday prayer book, Jonathan Sacks further cements his reputation as this generation's preeminent interpreter of Orthodox Judaism. Read BREAKING NEWS Four Israeli diplomats and security personnel have returned to Israel's embassy in Cairo after being evacuated as rioters stormed the building. Yad Vashem rescinded invitations to two Lithuanian officials to an annual commemoration of Lithuanian victims of the Holocaust. Two leading West Bank rabbis have condemned retaliatory attacks on Palestinians by right-wing activists and called on settlers to turn in perpetrators. Jonathan Pollard, the Jewish American jailed for spying for Israel, first offered classified information to Australia, according to a former FBI agent. Director Lars von Trier has retracted his apology for saying at the Cannes Film Festival that he has sympathy for Hitler. A cultural center that has stirred controversy with its opening was inaugurated in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, next to Hebron. An Israeli settler was arrested in connection with an attack on an Israeli military base in the West Bank. Giving to Israel decreased by 16 percent between 2006 and 2009, exhibiting the same trends as overall American giving, a study found. A Jewish news network that will air 24 hours a day is set to begin broadcasting. Charlie Sheen offered a contrite message, Jewish creators and writers fared well, and Jon Stewart won as usual at the Emmy Awards. The Obama re-election campaign is launching its outreach to Jews with a mass conference call. Apple's online music store iTunes has put some of the most well-known Jewish and Chasidic singers in the "Christian & Gospel" section. Israel ranks 83rd in the world in economic freedom, down two spots from last year, according to a new report. Jewish Women International has created a misheberach prayer to raise awareness of domestic violence. Israel has been accepted as an associate member of the prestigious European nuclear physics lab CERN. The pro-Israel organization StandWithUs has launched an ad campaign in Bay Area Rapid Transit stations to counter local ads that call for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.