JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Updated 05/20/12 @ 02:58PM EST

• An Israeli Health Ministry committee has recommended that gay men be allowed to use a surrogate mother to have a child.
• At least 30,000 people participated in the Jerusalem Day parade known as the Dance of the Flags, which led to some clashes between marchers and counter-protesters.
• The former Libyan intelligence agent convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, who was released from prison for humanitarian reasons, has died.
• The surge of illegal African migrants into Israel "threatens national security and identity," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
• A delegation of some 180 Israeli soldiers held direct encounter sessions with local Jewish and non-Jewish civilians in Krakow during a five-day study trip to Poland.

• Austria's defense minister called Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's participation in the government "unbearable."
• British comic actor John Cleese has signed on to a film by Israeli director Reshef Levi.
• Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Israel.
• Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg married a day after taking his company public.
• The G-8 forum of major industrial nations agreed to take action to keep the oil market stable, a signal to Iran that the international community is ready to absorb any retaliation for sanctions.

• Poland's minister of agriculture said he will not bow to activists and ban ritual slaughter in the country.
• Yom HaTorah in Italy, a day devoted to group study of the Torah in 13 Jewish communities across the country, excluded women, critics complained.
• Thousands of Italians cheered Gilad Shalit when the former captive Israeli soldier went to Rome’s City Hall to officially receive honorary citizenship of the Eternal City.
• Denmark's foreign minister said he plans to allow supermarkets to place a special label on goods originating from West Bank settlements.
• Nothing suggests that Iran is ready to stop its nuclear weapons program, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ahead of talks between Iran and a U.S.-led negotiating coalition.

• The U.S. House of Representatives explicitly stated that tough measures it recommended for Iran in a major defense bill did not authorize war.
• The European Jewish Congress has asked Czech Premier Petr Necas to urge other EU leaders to tackle possible threats against Europe’s Jewish and other minority communities.
• A mural contrasting gay rights in Israel and Arab states was completed in New York's Greenwich Village.
• Trader Joe's semi-sweet chocolate chips will no longer be certified nondairy.
• A former neo-Nazi who once defaced buildings with swastikas reportedly has been elected to a local council in south-central England.

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