Britannia Radio

Daily Briefing

Monday, November 21, 2011

FEATURED STORY With haredi population growing, can Israel put them to work? With 65 percent of Israel's haredi Orthodox population unemployed, the challenge of putting this rapidly growing segment of Israel's population to work has economic and strategic implications for all of Israel.Read more » EDITORS' PICKS Bringing Muslims and Jews together The fourth annual Weekend of Twinning kicked off last week, bringing together Jewish and Muslim houses of worship in an attempt to foster mutual understanding. JTA's Jessica Leader reports. Security is everyone's responsibility In a JTA Op-Ed, David Dabscheck of the nonprofit Community Security Service writes that many Jewish institutions in the United States are unprepared to ensure their own sec Did Shoah survivor settle in Argentina? JTA's Seeking Kin column takes up the case of a Polish Jewish family that settled in Argentina. The Jewish Confederate Judah Benjamin began his short tenure as secretary of war of the Confederacy 150 years ago today. But what fun would an anniversary celebration be without a discrepancy over the date? JTA's Archive blog investigates. 'The Prague Cemetery' (Tablet) Tablet excerpts Umberto Eco's new book about the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion." Contesting antiquities (Washington Post) With their recent admission as a member state of UNESCO, the Palestinians are moving to have areas in the West Bank declared world heritage sites, an effort likely to open a new front in the conflict with Israel. Sound of a woman (International Herald Tribune) How to balance a commitment to egalitarianism with the sensitivities of Israel's religious soldiers? Shmuel Rosner writes that it might require sacrificing national cohesiveness. Come home! (Boston Globe) To help lure its expat community back home, Israel has launched an advertising campaign in the United States featuring that most Jewish of emotions: guilt. BREAKING NEWS Satellite pictures reportedly are showing increased activity at an Iranian site suspected of housing secret work on the country's nuclear weapons program. The United States is planning to slap tougher new sanctions against Iran's oil industry, according to reports. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has frozen the progress of two bills that would impose restrictions on foreign funding to nongovernmental organizations in Israel. Henry Kissinger in 1972 called Jews "self-serving" because of pleas from the community for the Nixon administration to increase the pressure on the Soviet Union to allow its Jews to leave. Britain's Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks was not criticizing Steve Jobs when he said the late co-founder of Apple created a selfish society based on consumerism, the rabbi's office said. Jordan's King Abdullah visited the West Bank for the first time in more than a decade to demonstrate support for the Palestinians' statehood bid in the United Nations. Irish bagel lovers aren't having much luck: a 13.5 percent value-added tax will be tacked on to the traditionally Jewish favorite for the first time. Israel will maintain its freeze on transferring taxes collected for the Palestinian Authority. Jewish groups joined prayer rallies and demonstrations in Washington and across America to urge Congress to preserve federal programs for the poor. Germany will return two paintings to the sole heir of a collector who was murdered by the Nazis. The son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, and an Orthodox Jewish college student are among the recipients of Rhodes scholarships. Jewish Israelis who gathered in Hebron for a special Shabbat reportedly threw stones at the home of a Palestinian prisoner released in exchange for Gilad Shalit. Israel's military chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, slammed a settler rabbi's claim that religious soldiers would rather face a firing squad than attend a ceremony in which women sing. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it will stop managing an organization that reunites Holocaust victims. Some 50 young Jewish social innovators from 16 countries will gather in Buenos Aires to discuss innovative ways to connect to Jewish life. The delivery of natural gas to Israel from Egypt has resumed nine days after the gas pipeline between the two countries was blown up for the seventh time. Israel's ambassador to Egypt returned to Cairo for the first time since being evacuated from the country amid violent protest.