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Daybreak: Clinton Demands Pressure on Syria

Plus, IDF wants U.S. equipment, no matzah for Rikers inmate, and more in the news

by
Stephanie Butnick
August 12, 2011
Hillary Clinton in Washington, DC, on August 11, 2011.(Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
Hillary Clinton in Washington, DC, on August 11, 2011.(Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

• U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called for international pressure on Syrian president Bashar Assad, urging other countries to speak out against the Syrian regime. [JPost]

• The housing protests in Israel are now addressing disparate wealth distribution in the country, drawing attention to influential Israeli families who control a large sector of the economy. [NYT]

• The IDF is reportedly in talks with the Pentagon to buy equipment that will be retired after a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, specifically Humvee combat vehicles. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are two other likely recipients of U.S. equipment. [JPost]

• A federal court ruled that an inmate at Rikers Island does not have the right to be served matzah and grape juice, daily, while imprisoned for first-degree sodomy. [Jewish Journal]

• Citing a loss of funding and questions of necessity, the Jewish Theater San Francisco, better known as A Traveling Jewish Theater, will close after 35th seasons. [SF Chronicle]

• The graduate school of Jewish studies at Yeshiva University will award its first doctorate in Talmud to a woman. Shana Strauch Schick will graduate in September. [JTA]

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.