President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's opponents won local council elections in Iran, final results showed Thursday, in an embarrassing blow to the hard-line leader that could force him to focus more on domestic issues. Last week's elections for local councils in towns and cities across Iran were widely seen as a referendum on Ahmadinejad's 18 months in office. Questions remain, however, concerning vote rigging in city council elections in Teheran.

Meanwhile, university authorities in Iran have adopted a "star rating" system for politically-active students as part of President Ahmadinejad's crackdown on dissent within the academic elite. Regime critics are given between one and three stars according to the perceived threat they pose. The star system has, however, become a badge of honor among those who have acquired them on their records.

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury says he could be condemned to death as early as next month for calling for diplomatic ties between his native Bangladesh and the State of Israel. The 41-year-old journalist and editor spoke to JTA in a 20-minute phone interview last week from Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital. He said his trial for sedition, blasphemy and treason, which began in September, will resume Jan. 22 after a short break. Illinois 10th District Congressman Mark Kirk and local activist Dr. Richard Benkin have been advocating on Choudhury's behalf.

A 60 minutes episode on Sunday revealed some 50 million pages of secrets of the Nazi Holocaust that are finally being made available to the public. The documents, discovered by the Allies in dozens of concentration camps, were then taken to a town in the middle of Germany, Bad Arolsen, where they were sorted, filed and locked way for the past 60 years. 60 minutes traveled to Germany with three survivors who were the first to visit the archives and see their personal files.

Having lost his suit against the Air Force Academy, Mikey Weinstein has turned his attention elsewhere. He's accusing seven Army and Air Force officers of violating military regulations "and possibly the Constitution" (says the Associated Press) by appearing in uniform in a promotional video for the Christian Embassy. "We don't think we did anything in violation," Robert Varney, executive director of the Bill Bright-founded organization, told the AP. "The Pentagon gave us permission to film the video, and I don't think they'd give us permission if it were in violation of the regulations." Still, Weinstein's complaint is getting widespread attention, with bloggers abuzz about a Christian conspiracy behind the fellowship group.

Last Friday, former President Jimmy Carter issued a letter to the American Jewish community in response to the controversy surrounding his new book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. He referred to a meeting with rabbis in Phoenix, saying, "My use of "apartheid" does not apply to circumstances within Israel, that I acknowledge the deep concern of Israelis about the threat of terrorism and other acts of violence from some Palestinians, and that the majority of Israelis sincerely want a peaceful existence with their neighbors." The Anti-Defamation League responded in an open letter to Carter, "No matter the distinction you articulate in your letter, using the incendiary word 'Apartheid' to refer to Israel and its policies is unacceptable and shameful."

Israel was justified in invading Lebanon in the wake of the kidnapping of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah, respondents to a UPI-Zogby International poll said. A total of 57.6 percent of the 6,296 U.S. respondents to a Zogby interactive poll said Israel was "justified" in its response while 31.1 percent said it wasn't.

In response to Iran's Holocaust denial conference last week and other anti-Semitic phenomena, Israel's Foreign Ministry convened a video conference with Jewish leaders--including Michael Kotzin, JUF executive vice president--to discuss renewing Israel's global forum on anti-Semitism. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni brought together top officials from across the Israeli and Diaspora spectrums Tuesday to revive an initiative launched in 2003 by Natan Sharansky, who was then a Cabinet minister responsible for Diaspora matters.

For five days in September, the United Jewish Communities/JCPA Israel Advocacy Initiative (funded by JUF) hosted nine non-Jewish community leaders and three Jewish community professionals from eight cities across the United States on a Fact-Finding Institute in Israel. Embarking just weeks after the enactment of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, the primary goal of the Institute was to offer non-Jewish community leaders the opportunity to gain an exclusive perspective into Israel's conflict with Hezbollah during the summer of 2006, and the situation on Israel's northern border in the aftermath of this crisis.

Another UJC/JCPA trip, specifically for Protestant leaders, returned last week. JUF's Rabbinic Scholar Yehiel Poupko accompanied two local Presbyterian leaders.

A researcher with the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, took the stand in Chicago on behalf of Muhammad Salah, a Bridgeview man accused of supporting terrorism as a member of the Palestinian extremist group Hamas. Yuval Ginbar testified that Israeli interrogators engaged in systematic torture of the "vast majority" of people detained as security threats during the 1990s, though he acknowledged he had no firsthand information about how Salah was treated when Israeli security agents interrogated him in 1993.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday Judge Amy St. Eve disqualified Norman Finkelstein, a DePaul University assistant professor, from giving "expert" testimony during the trial. The defense sought Finkelstein's testimony re: alleged "pressure" the Israeli government and the "Jewish Lobby" exerted on the U.S. government to both cover up the torture of Salah and to bring the case to trial. After several days of deliberations, Judge St. Eve ruled that Mr. Finkelstein did not, in fact, possess specific expertise on the particular time period - 1992-1993 - leading up to and including Mr. Salah's imprisonment in Israel.

Ehud (Udi) Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Shalit, the three Israeli soldiers who were abducted during last summer's crisis, are still being held captive by Hezbollah and Hamas. E-alert encourages its readers to make their voices heard and do all they can to help return the kidnapped soldiers to their families.

• Urge President Bush to press the incoming U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and the international community to make every effort to secure the release of the Israeli soldiers by demanding the full implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 (which requires Hezbollah and the Lebanese government to release Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev unconditionally) and seeking Gilad Shalit's release from Hamas.
• Sign and distribute the UJC petition directed to Ban Ki-Moon that demands the release of the three Israeli soldiers.

In concert with Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, JUF's Jewish Community Relations Council is asking the Jewish community to add a modern-day twist to their holiday celebration by switching from regular light bulbs to energy efficient, cost effective compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. This contemporary Hanukkah celebration is part of a larger climate change campaign, "A Light Among the Nations," launched by the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), which is featured in the Washington Post today. JCRC also suggests other ways to be environmentally conscious.

Be part of a creative exploration of Israel in a one-of-a-kind art exhibit, "Israel Is." The exhibit will be shown at Israel Experience Programs Day on Sunday, January 28, 2007, at Ezra Habonim Niles Township Jewish Congregation. Teens are invited to submit photography, artwork, a poem or essay showcasing what Israel means to them. The winning entry in each category (creative writing and visual arts) will be published in JVibe Magazine and the winners will each receive a $250 gift certificate toward any approved Israel Experience program.

Contest Rules:

• Submissions must be received by Friday, January 5, 2007
• Open to Jewish high school students in grades 9-12
• Essay Maximum: 800 words
• Poem Maximum: 50 lines
• All submissions must be the original work of the person submitting
• You may submit even if you have never been to Israel

Submit online to: IsraelExperience@juf.org or send a hard copy to: Israel Is...30 S. Wells St., Rm 5035, Chicago, IL 60606.

Toward the brink in Gaza, Chicago Tribune editorial
Palestinians must choose course by Leslie Susser
In Abbas, Western hopes hang on thin reed by Steven Erlanger
Why They Deny the Holocaust by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Iraq Study Group wrong to link Iraq to Israel by James A. Phillips
Israel's strategic challenges in a changing Middle East by Sallai Meridor
When I think of sacrifice by Aaron B. Cohen