JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Updated 02/09/12 @ 04:23PM EST

• Rabbi Gunther Plaut, a major figure in Reform Judaism, died in Toronto.
• The application for a proposed Hebrew-language charter school was accepted by the District of Columbia Public Charter School board.
• A truck driving calves from Eilat to the Golan Heights was hijacked into the West Bank.
• U.S. Rep. Howard Berman introduced legislation that would allow eligible Israeli nationals to receive non-immigrant investor visas in the United States.
• A columnist for casino mogul Sheldon Adelson's Israeli newspaper is also receiving a salary from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office for speechwriting and other services, according to an Israeli television station.

• Larry Greenfield, a longtime Republican Jewish activist, was named national executive director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs in Washington.
• Members of the Minnesota Rabbinical Association have signed a statement opposing a state ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriages.
• Former captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and his parents met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the presidential palace in Paris.
• Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was among the recipients of Israel's first President's Prize.
• Jewish French film director Claude Lanzmann denied accusations that he sexually harassed a guard at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport.

• The fence outside the Jerusalem offices of Peace Now was spray-painted with threatening graffiti.
• An Israeli tourist charged by Chile with accidentally starting a massive forest fire in a popular national park was fined and released.
• Bagels were granted equal status with soda bread in Ireland following a government decision to reclassify the traditionally Jewish favorite as ordinary bread for the purposes of taxation.
• A bipartisan slate of U.S. senators will present a resolution calling on the Obama administration to make a "nuclear-weapons capability" by Iran a red line.
• Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and top U.S. security officials told Jewish community leaders that there is no imminent threat of an attack on Jewish targets in the United States.

• A pro-Palestinian affiliate of the Presbyterian Church (USA) pulled down its Facebook page after Jewish groups complained about offensive postings.
• The Jewish Federations of North America commended the Obama administration for maintaining the deductibility rate of charitable donations.
• Jewish groups split on their response to a federal appeals court ruling that allows same-sex couples to marry in California.
• Calls are growing in Congress to reconsider U.S. aid to Egypt.
• Israel's Public Utility Authority granted the first-ever license for a solar project in the Bedouin community that is being funded by the U.S. government.

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