JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Updated 02/09/12 @ 10:42AM EST

• 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.
• Larry Greenfield, a longtime Republican Jewish activist, was named national executive director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs in Washington.
• 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.

• Rick Santorum won three contests in the race for the Republican nod for the presidency.
• The Jewish owner of a real estate company in New York is donating his $50,000 winnings from a Super Bowl bet to charity.
• Four people were charged with hate crimes in an assault on a Jewish man in New York State.
• A Chasidic teenager pleaded guilty to assault in the firebombing of the home of a neighbor over a religious disagreement.
• Delta Airlines removed the phrase "Occupied Palestinian Territories" from its list of Middle East destinations.

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