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Daybreak: Biden Backs Jewish State

Plus intermarriage blessings, George Mitchell in full, and more in the news

by
Marc Tracy
March 09, 2010
Mitchell (L) and Netanyahu, Sunday.(Moshe Milner/GPO via Getty Images)
Mitchell (L) and Netanyahu, Sunday.(Moshe Milner/GPO via Getty Images)

• After meeting Prime Minister Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Vice President Joe Biden declared, “There is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel’s security.” [WP]

• A Reform Judaism task force proposed the establishment of separate blessings for major life events, including marriages, involving non-Jewish spouses. [AP/Vos Iz Neias?]

• With U.S. support, Israel plans to build over 100 new homes in a West Bank settlement, saying they were planned before the construction freeze was in effect. [BBC]

• Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Israel had accepted his country as a Syrian mediator; Israel quickly denied this. [JPost]

• Both Israel and Syria disclosed yesterday, at an energy conference in France, that they wish to begin using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. [Haaretz]

• U.S. envoy George Mitchell, who would lead those Israeli-Palestinian “proximity talks,” departed Israel for a time right as Biden arrived. A profile describes him as a man of “legendary patience.” [Politico]

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.