Young settlers clash with Israeli police during evacuation of a disputed Hebron house on Dec. 4.

join the U.N. Human Rights Council,
reversing its policy of shunning the group
and prompting concern among some
Jewish organizations.

> U.S. Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., a
Jewish lawmaker in a fight for her political
life following allegations that she agreed to
intervene on behalf of two former AIPAC
staffers charged with relaying classified
leaks, sends a letter to the U.S. attorney

general asking for the release of any tapes
of classified conversations.

APRIL

> Jews across the denominational spec-
trum in Israel and the United States
organize to say the Birkat Hachamah, a
blessing over the sun that is recited every
28 years when, the Talmud says, the sun
reaches the same spot in the firmament as
when it was created.

— Photo by Brian Hendler

> The discovery of a Hezbollah terrorist
network in Egypt highlights the divide
between the pro-Western moderates in the
Middle East and the Iranian-led radicals,
as well as the regional interests Egypt and
Israel share.

inflammatory anti-Israel speech by Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

> Jewish and Israeli activists descend
en masse on the Durban II U.N. racism
conference in Geneva. European delegates
walk out of the main hall to protest an

> Jacob Zuma of the African National
Congress is elected South Africa's new
president, though 80 percent of Jews vote

> Arlen Specter switches to the Democratic
Party, leaving the Senate without a Jewish
Republican for the first time in decades.

Year In Review on page 44

September 17 2009

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