JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

• In affidavits, Internal Revenue Service officials denied telling a pro-Israel group that they checked whether such groups applying for tax-exempt status oppose the administration.
• Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that peace talks are off unless Israel extends a partial moratorium on settlement building.
• Israeli and Palestinian leaders will meet every two weeks to advance peace talks.
• Mahmoud Abbas agreed with Benjamin Netanyahu that securing Israelis and Palestinians was the key to advancing peace.
• At the launch of renewed peace talks, Arab leaders called on Israel to sustain a settlement freeze and to negotiate final status issues.

• The board of directors of Brandeis University has tapped the dean of George Washington University’s law school as its next president.
• Hamas and Turkey are joining forces to take legal action against Israeli military officers involved in the interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla.
• A French group of movie theaters temporarily canceled screenings of an Israeli film in response to Israel’s raid of a Gaza-bound flotilla.
• American Jewish groups are calling on the State Department to designate a Turkish relief group, a main organizer of last month's Gaza flotilla, as a terrorist organization.
• Several anti-Semitic acts have been reported in France since Israel’s interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla.

• Israel has the right to inspect what goes into Gaza, Middle East mediator Tony Blair told an Israeli television station.
• The national body for Jewish Democrats urged lawmakers not to join a letter by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) calling on President Obama to penalize Israel for its deadly raid on an aid flotilla.
• This time it’s a public relations war rather than a military one that has sent American Jews into the streets warning that a campaign is under way to wipe Israel off the map.
• Several Israeli businessmen were attacked by pro-Palestinian protesters at a conference at a Madrid university.
• A blog has criticized the Reuters news agency for cropping the knives of activists on board a Gaza-bound flotilla from photos it distributed to newspapers.

• European Jewish communities watched the protests in Europe against Israel following the flotilla incident with mild concern, but the numbers of protesters were much smaller than those against Israel in January 2009 during the Gaza war.
• Israel insists its naval blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza is justified and will continue. But as international criticism mounts, Jerusalem is faced with tough questions about how effective the embargo has been and whether it should be modified.
• Iran's Red Crescent said it would send two aid ships to Gaza.
• Israel said it identified several passengers on board a Turkish ship intercepted near Gaza who are known to be involved in terrorist activity.
• In more apparent fallout from Israel's interception of a Gaza-bond flotilla, the American alternative rock band the Pixies canceled a scheduled concert in Israel.

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