The top nation and world stories from the Ledger’s pages in 2011

National and World News 2011

JANUARY

■ Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the Chief rabbi of Britain for the past 22 years, announced that he will retire in September of 2013.

■ Gabrielle Giffords, the U.S. Representative to Congress from Arizona, was critically injured and six of her constituents were killed, when a gunman opened fire at a “Congress at Your Corner” event in her home district on Jan. 8.

■ Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak stunned reporters when he announced at a Knesset press conference that he and four other Labor lawmakers were leaving their party to form a new faction called “Atzmaut” – Hebrew for “independence.”

FEBRUARY

■ J Street, the controversial left-leaning, self-proclaimed Israel advocacy group, was dealt a major blow when Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), one of its key supporters in Congress, announced that he was disassociating himself from the organization.

■ Paraguay joined a parade of South American nations in recognizing an independent Palestinian state.

■ Two Israeli filmmakers took home awards from the Sundance Film Festival. Erez Kav-El captured the world cinema dramatic screenwriting award for his film “Restoration,” and Talya Lavie, received an Inaugural Sundance Institition Mahindra Global Film-making award for “Zero Motivation.”

MARCH

■ Malcolm Hoenlein, head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish organizations, blasted President Barack Obama as well as the heads of other governments for failing to condemn – or even criticize – the naming of a square in a West Bank town after a terrorist.

APRIL

■ Two Palestinian teenagers from the Israeli town of Awarta are arrested and charged with the March murder of five members of the Fogel family in the Israeli town of Itamar.  The two readily admitted to the murder, expressed no remorse, and were convicted.

■ It was discovered that a rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists that hit an Israeli school bus driving near Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council in the south of Israel – killing one young student – was Russian made, and likely smuggled into Gaza with help from Syria and Iran.

■ An online retailer removed a range of products, including underwear and baby clothes emblazoned with an image of a swastika superimposed on a Star of David, after a complaint from London’s Jewish Chronicle.

MAY

■ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech to the joint session of the U.S. Congress on May 24. His words brought standing ovations from both sides of the aisle and later both Democrats and Republicans expressed their support for Israel.

■ AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, held its policy conference in Washington, D.C. The three-day program included speakers, education sessions and lobbying on Capitol Hill, and drew participants from all 50 states.

JUNE

■ Sen. Mark Kirk (R. Ill) called for an investigation by the Federal Aviation Authority into Delta Airlines and whether it was enforcing a Saudi ban against Jewish passengers flying into that country through the Sky Team Alliance, which makes it possible for U.S. airlines to book flights on other carriers.

JULY

■ The Greek government banned the departure of a 9-boat flotilla bound for Gaza. The flotilla was intended to commemorate the May 2010 raid by Israeli commandos on a similar flotilla that originated in Turkey in which nine Turkish activists were killed and several Israeli soldiers injured.

■ A resolution passed in July by the House of Representatives threatened to restrict U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) if its leaders continue to evade direct negotiation with Israel and seek statehood at the United Nations. Passed on Thursday, July 7, House Resolution 268 also called on President Obama to consider suspending American financial assistance to the PA as a result of its reconciliation with Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization sworn to Israel’s destruction.

AUGUST

■ The California Superior Court ruled in August that an initiative to ban circumcision for minors must be removed from San Francisco’s November ballot.  The initiative sought to make the practice of circumcision a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to one year in jail and offered no exemption for religious ritual. The group behind the initiative had also commissioned a series of comic books with the villain “Monster Mohel” and hero “Foreskin Man.”
■ President Barack Obama named Ira Forman as his campaign’s Jewish outreach director. Forman is the former head of the National Jewish Democratic Council and was a former official in the Clinton administration.

■ A nationwide on-line petition drive was launched appealing to Cuba’s President Raul Castro to free Alan Gross, 61, of Maryland, on humanitarian grounds. In 2009, Gross was in Cuba helping the country’s Jewish community improve its Internet and Intranet access, when he was taken into custody and charged and convicted of “actions against the integrity of the State” – charges he denies—and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

SEPTEMBER

■ At the United Nations General Assembly, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Barack  Obama and other world leaders.

■ The flagship London branch of Israeli cosmetics company AHAVA closed its doors for good after bi-weekly Palestinian protests disrupted the store’s business and slashed profits.

OCTOBER

■ After 1,941 days in captivity at the hands of Hamas terrorists in Gaza, IDF soldier Gilad Shalit finally set foot on Israeli soil on Tuesday morning, Oct. 18. In exchange for the release of the 25-year old, Israel agreed to set free 1,027 Palestinian prisoners from its jails, including hundreds who are guilty of the worst atrocities in the Jewish state’s history.

■ The Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit of anti-Semitic incidents reported a slight increase in 2010 – 1,239 compared to 1,211 in 2009. This is the first increase reported by the ADL since 2004. Since then, the number has declined incrementally each year.

■ Five of this year’s seven Nobel Prize winners in science and medicine, announced in October, were Jewish, including the Israeli scientist Daniel Shechtman; American Saul Perlmutter and Adam Gross, American Bruce Beutler (who shared his prize with Jules Hoffman),and  Ralph Steinman, a Canadaian who received the award posthumously, passing away just three days before the Nobel committee announced his award.

■ “Innovations, Inc” an exhibit spotlighting 50 of the most important and indispensable inventions in Israel’s history was on display at the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem.

■ Israel’s cabinet approved a prisoner exchange with Egypt to swap 25 Egyptian prisoners for Ilan Grapel, an American-Israeli citizen imprisoned in Cairo in June on suspicion of spying.

■ A monument honoring 14 Jewish chaplains who died in service to the United States was unveiled on Chaplain’s Hill in Arlington National Cemetery.

■ KosherFest, the world’s largest annual kosher food show was held in Secaucus, N.J. in October. Among the many vendors at the two-day show were Warren and Carol Webber of West Hartford, owners of “Warren’s Foods” — the show’s only Connecticut vendors.

NOVEMBER

■ In what they thought was a private conversation, French President Nicholas Sarkozy was caught calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a liar” with the reply from President Barack Obama, “You may be sick of him, but me, I have to deal with him every day!” when the microphones used by the leaders’ translators were left on during the G20 Summit in Cannes, France.

■ The second annual “Global Day of Learning” inspired by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, took place on Nov. 13.

■ The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) board of trustees approved a new needs-based overseas model called the Global Planning Table that aims to provide ” a new structure and process for Jewish Federations and their partners to analyze the needs of Jewish people in Israel and 70 nations across the globe.” Cathrine Fischer Schwartz, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, was one of only a handful of Federation executives to sit on the Global Planning Table Design Committee.  She will continue to serve on the GPT advisory committee, representing the large-intermediate city size group.

■ The International Atomic Energy Agency announced Nov. 8 that Iran has secretly been working on developing nuclear weapons since 2003.

■ Jewish Book Month began Nov. 21 with communities around the country holding Jewish book fairs and events celebrating Jewish books.

■ Jonathan Pollard entered his 27th year in prison. He was convicted of spying for Israel with intent to harm the U.S. and has been incarcerated in a prison in North Carolina for two decades.

DECEMBER

■ U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) announced that he would not seek reelection.

■ Judy Gross took public her campaign to secure the release of her husband, Alan, from a Cuban prison.  At the urging of the Jewish Federation of North America, nearly 100 U.S. lawmakers sent letters to the government of Cuba advocating for Gross’ release. Among the 19 senators were Connecticut’s Joe Lieberman and Richard Blumenthal; amog the 72 congressmen were Connecticut Representatives Jim Himes, Joe Courney and Chris Murphy. Himes also made a statement on the floor of the House calling on the Cuban government to release Gross.

■ Philanthropists Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson announced an additional $5 million gift to the Birthright Israel Foundation for 2011, raising their total contribution since 2007 to more than $100 million.  As a result, Birthright announced that 2,000 North American young adults who had applied for a trip this winter but were waitlisted, will now be able to on the free, 10-day educational trip in the coming months.

■ Authorities suspect antisemitism may have prompted an arson attack against a Hollywood, Florida Judaica shop Dec. 1, which caused an estimated $100,000 in damage. Hundreds of sacred texts, tallitim, menorahs and other holy objects were completely destroyed in the fire.

■ More than 16,000 Holocaust survivors who have been denied German compensation pensions will now be eligible to receive them as a result of Claims Conference negotiations with the German government. The agreement will result in approximately $650 million in additional Claims Conference payments over the next decade.

■ New York Times’ columnist Thomas Friedman creates a furor when he wrote a scathing column, excoriating Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  Among other barbs, Thomas said the standing ovation Netanyahu received in Congress this fall as being “bought and paid for by the Israel lobby.”

■ The Conference of European Rabbis mourned the passing of Václav Havel, the former president of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic and a longstanding fighter for human rights, who died on Sunday, Dec. 18 at the age of 75.

■ The formerly Chassidic reggea superstar, Matisyahu, shaved his beard. “I am reclaiming myself. Trusting my goodness and my divine mission,” he twittered to fans in explanation.