Your Daily Spiel is The CJN’s (almost) daily roundup of trending stories in the Jewish world.
Labour’s New Face: Israel’s centre-left Labour party elected Avi Gabbay as its new leader. Gabbay recently joined Labour after leaving Kulanu, a centre-right party, and was seen as the underdog in a race which featured the party-incumbent Isaac Herzog and Amir Peretz.
Rabbis in a Row: Ten rabbis in Canada were among the list of 160 Diaspora rabbis placed on the so-called “blacklist” compiled by Israel’s ultra-Orthodox-dominated Chief Rabbinate. The rabbis on the list failed to satisfy the Rabbinate’s purported standards on issues ranging from overseeing conversions to the Jewishness of immigrants.
American-Palestinian Sit Down: David Friedman, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and Jason Greenblatt, the White House’s Special Envoy to the peace process, met senior Palestinian negotiators in Jerusalem on Tuesday. In an unusual turn of events, the Palestinians declined to host the meeting in Ramallah, opting for Jerusalem instead.
Gaza Struggles Continue: According to a report by the United Nations , the Gaza Strip has become effectively unlivable for its two million residents. With only three hours of daily power and 40 per cent unemployment, Robert Piper, the UN co-ordinator for humanitarian aid and development for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, told Reuters on Tuesday, “That’s the message in this report, the fundamental message: Someone has got to step back and put the interests of civilians at the top of the queue for a change.”
