Britannia Radio

Daily Briefing

Thursday, April 19, 2012

FEATURED STORY Marking 25 years, March of the Living uniting survivors with liberators in Poland Holocaust survivors have been an integral part of the March of the Living’s program from its inception, but this is the first year that liberators will take center stage. Read more » EDITORS' PICKS New Jewish thinking on school vouchers and tax credits As day school tuition costs rise, a growing number of Jewish organizations are rethinking their opposition to public support for religious schools, Shira Schoenberg reports for JTA. On Capitol Hill, Jewish Dems jockey for top committee slots Jewish lawmakers are already campaigning for the top Democratic slots on the House Appropriations and Foreign Affairs committees, JTA's Ron Kampeas reports. Why no U.S. action on prosecuting Palestinian terrorists? U.S. lawmakers still want more answers after the Department of Justice noted the obstacles it says stand in the way of prosecuting Palestinian terrorists who killed Americans. Zach Silberman has the story for JTA. Don't misuse Title VI Jewish groups should not use civil rights law to quash political debate on campus, argues David A.M. Wilensky, editor of the national Jewish student magazine New Voices, in a JTA Op-Ed. The waning wave of Israelis coming to America (Forward) The number of Israelis immigrating to the United States is falling. Evangelicals for Palestine (Tablet) Efforts are underway to try to convert Evangelical Christians to a more pro-Palestinian perspective. London mayoral hopeful Ken Livingstone's Jewish pitch (Totally Jewish) Former London mayor and current mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone, whose past statements have made him anathema to many Jews, tries to sell himself in an interview with a Jewish news outlet. A Jewish Confederate (N.Y. Times) The New York Times' Civil War blog zooms in on Confederate Cabinet member Judah Benjamin. Looking forward on Yom Hashoah (Jerusalem Post) Rabbi Haim Ansalem writes that it shouldn't take a Hitler to bring about Jewish unity. The first Yom Hashoah Adam Soclof digs through the JTA Jewish News Archive to shed light on the origins of Holocaust Remembrance Day. Are you Jewy enough? Have you ever been judged for not being Jewish enough? On Kveller, Amy Keyishian wonders about the nature of one-upmanship in the Jewish world. BREAKING NEWS Islamist groups including the Muslim Brotherhood condemned a visit to Jerusalem's Al-Aksa Mosque by Egypt's grand mufti, one of the country's highest religious authorities. A Hadassah-commissioned probe has exonerated two top officials, Marcie Natan and Nancy Falchuk, of financial abuse allegations. Israel's prime minister and president invoked the Iranian threat during remarks at the annual Yom Hashoah ceremony at Yad Vashem. Israel's Shin Bet security service highlighted two Palestinian terrorists released in the swap for Gilad Shalit who have resumed terrorist activity. Jewish families moved into two homes in an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood following the eviction of its Palestinian residents. The U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously to award Raoul Wallenberg the Congressional Gold Medal. The Chicago City Council urged the city's largest employee pension fund to divest from Iran. An address by a Roman Catholic bishop that compared President Obama's health care policies to Hitler's actions did not play well in Peoria. Hannah Rosenthal, the U.S. envoy to combat anti-Semitism, will meet with the mayor of Malmo, Sweden, who is accused of fomenting anti-Semitism. A painting stolen from its Jewish owner and sold by France's Vichy government was returned to his heirs. Some 1,200 rabbis have signed on to a letter appealing to Christian churches not to divest from Israel. The first of six Limmud conferences for Russian-speaking Jews will open in Moscow. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made Time magazine's 2012 list of the 100 most influential people in the world for the second year in a row. The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles announced the biggest donation in its history, a $20 million gift from the Brawerman family to provide college scholarships. Basel, a Swiss city with a Jewish population of some 2,000 people, saw the opening of its fifth synagogue. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano met with leaders of the New York Jewish federation to discuss security for nonprofits in the wake of substantial funding cuts. An American Jewish World Service-funded project in Ethiopia won a Goldman Environmental Prize.