Rob Lattin is Jspace News' Foreign Affairs Correspondent. In addition to covering foreign affairs for Jspace, Rob is a blogger on Israeli and Middle Eastern foreign policy for the Foreign Policy Association, as well as a freelance writer. He can be reached by email at rob@jspacecorp.com. According to those close to the White House, Barack Obama plans to appoint former Republican Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel as the next Secretary of Defense. While Hagel technically represents a bipartisan pick, conservative …More

When the new Congress convenes in January, it will be missing several longtime pillars of support for Israel on Capitol Hill. Gone from the House of Representatives will be veteran Jewish Reps. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), the ranking member on the committee’s Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee; and Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), a point person on funding Israel’s missile defense efforts. Absent from the Senate will be Sen. …More

Peter Beinart has been banned from an Atlanta Jewish book festival. [AJC] Never-before-seen images of a Nazi occupied town in Poland are displayed for first time. [Daily Mail] Tuscaloosa, Alabama's first synagogue is set for demolition. [Crimson White] Israel's newest missile defense system is en route for deployment in 2014. [Times of Israel] The sister of the Toulouse Jewish day school killer is suing, after a documentary crew secretly filmed her saying she was "proud" of her brother. [Forward] The …More

Peter Beinart asks: What is a Jewish state? [Daily Beast] Jewish mothers and phone sex. [Forward] A rabbinical league of their own. [Tablet] Republican Jews speak out. [Tablet] One rabbi says Christianity has changed drastically in the 20th century. [Jewish Week] Jewish Federations respond to Hurricane Isaac. [JUF News] …More

Jewish Democrats slam a planned Paul Ryan tribute at the GOP National Convention. [Talking Points] Shangri-La Hotel owner tries to make amends with Jewish groups. [New York Times] Peter Beinart's take on the relationship between US Jews and Israeli Jews. [Daily Beast] US teens have a summer experience in Israel. [Huffington Post] Are Jewish delis fading? [Algemeiner] The Empire State Building shooter worked at a Jewish-owned company. [Haaretz] Israel makes inroads on halting African immigration. [US …More

Israel Hayom draws a parallel between the Knesset shakeup of 1977 and the recent Kadima-Likud coalition. [Israel Hayom] An Iranian woman who has lived in Israel for more than a decade faces problems securing her citizenship. [Times of Israel] And Gideon Ezra, a veteran Israeli politician, dies at 74. [Israel Hayom] Meanwhile, Jewish groups criticize the reburial of World War II leaders. [BBC] And a journalist talks about his breakfast with Peter Beinart. [Jerusalem Post] Elsewhere, data shows Israelis like to …More

A Haaretz writer lays out the pros and cons of Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu simultaneously running reelection campaigns. [Haaretz] Meanwhile, the vice president of Iran visits Israel’s border. [Ynet] An Israeli official says the Jewish state should cut back on its use of administrative detentions for Palestinians. [Haaretz] And an IDF soldier was found dead today, reportedly from suicide. Nevertheless, the Defense Forces says it has lowered suicide rates in its ranks. [Times of Israel] Farther …More

Jspace recently did an interview with Peter Beinart, author of the controversial book “The Crisis of Zionism.” In the interview, as well as the book, Peter doubted mainstream American Jewish leaders' commitment to the liberal principles of Zionism. Jspace Foreign Affairs correspondent Rob Lattin caught up with Steven Bayme, AJC Director of Contemporary Jewish Life and the Koppelman Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations, to discuss his feelings about Beinart’s accusations. Bayme has …More

Peter Beinart’s newest book "The Crisis of Zionism" has generated some controversy in the American-Zionist community, earning both praise and criticism for its bold stance and provocative positions. The book is a personal reflection on what it means for the senior Daily Beast editor and CUNY professor to be a Zionist, the current state and future possibilities of democracy in Israel, and his belief that current mainstream American Jewish leadership does not value Zionism’s original liberal …More

For decades, the American Jewish community has debated the advisability, constitutionality and necessity of government aid to Jewish (and other faiths’) parochial schools. But with the United States still experiencing tough economic challenges, the American Jewish community finds its schools under greater financial stress than ever. This reality, alongside the solidification of court rulings upholding government aid programs and a current of broader education reform, has positioned 2012 to be a year in which …More

Daily Beast writer Peter Beinart recently released his newest book, “The Crisis of Zionism,” and it is making serious waves in the American Jewish and Israel activist communities. Beinart’s basic assumption is that Israel’s democracy is currently eroding in large part due to its occupation of the West Bank. If peace negotiations with the Palestinians do not pick up, or the status quo is not changed in the relatively near future, he says, Israeli democracy may cease to exist all together. …More

A Ukrainian Jewish businessman was shot dead over the weekend, launching a police investigation. [Israel Hayom] Elsewhere, a Huffington Post writer takes a look at the contrasting ways in which Jewish voters cast their ballots. [Huffington Post] And the New York Times Sunday Book Review breaks down Peter Beinart’s “The Crisis of Zionism,” calling the effort “simplistic.” [New York Times] Meanwhile, the heir to a Jewish art dealer has solved a longstanding dispute concerning a …More