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Note from the Editor
With this edition, we launch a new, sharper, more reader-friendly version of the Israel Campus Beat. We will continue to cover the latest news from Israel and North American college campuses, but we’ve also expanded the ICB's coverage of Israel’s worlds of business, science and technology, and domestic affairs.
As a new feature, your edition of the ICB can be customized to reflect your interests. Make sure you enter manage your subscription. And as always, please share with us articles from your campus newspaper that you would like to have featured in the Israel Campus Beat. Also, in order to help educate others, we ask that you forward the Israel Campus Beat to 10 friends.
Best wishes for a great 2006 from the editors and publishers of the ICB!
Israel on Campus Coalition, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Poll: Israelis Biggest Patriots in West
by Greer Fay Cashman
 Israelis are the most patriotic people in the Western world according to a survey taken by the Institute for Policy and Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. (Jerusalem Post)
Jewish Community in Israel Now Equals U.S.
by Amiram Barkat
 This year there will be as many Jews living in Israel as in the U.S., according to statistics presented at a Jewish Policy Planning Institute conference last week by Hebrew University Prof. Sergio Della Pergola. The number of Jews in the diaspora shrunk by about a quarter in the past 35 years, from slightly more than 10 million to 7.75 million. Overall, the Jewish population as a percentage of the world population has decreased by about a third since 1970, to 0.21% percent, down from 0.35%. There were nearly 13 million Jews in 2005. (Ha'aretz)
EU Suspends Some Palestinian Aid
 The European Union has suspended 35 million euros ($42 million) in aid to the Palestinians, citing their lack of budgetary discipline, EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said on Tuesday. "We have not paid because the benchmarks have not been fulfilled," she said. "There has to be a credible finance minister, but there also has to be a budget and the budget should also remain within the limits of what the budget has foreseen," she said. (Reuters)
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U.S. Condemns Suicide Bombing in Israel
The White House on Thursday condemned a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and demanded the Palestinian Authority take steps to prevent such attacks. The bombing wounded at least 16 people and responsibility for it was claimed by the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad. "We condemn this atrocious attack in the strongest possible terms," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "We call upon the Palestinian Authority again to do everything it can to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure." (Reuters)
Israel: Iran Funded Tel Aviv Bombing
by Arnon Regular and Amos Harel
 Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel has "decisive proof that the attack in Tel Aviv was a direct result of the Axis of Terror that operates between Iran and Syria. Iran supplied the money, and [Islamic] Jihad's headquarters in Damascus directed the organization's operatives in Nablus, giving operational orders and instructions." Israel has given details of the intelligence behind Mofaz's statements to the U.S., the EU, and Egypt. (Ha'aretz)
See also Israel Warns Iran on Nuclear Work (BBC)
Tzipi Livni, Israel's New Foreign Minister: "There Will Be Two States"
by Lally Weymouth
 What was Sharon's most important political contribution to Israel? The disengagement plan changed totally the terms of the conflict and the political map in Israel. It changed some of the right-wing understanding and should change the international community's attitude toward Israel. Until then, Israel was blamed as a country that wants to control the lives of the Palestinians and will not dismantle any settlements. I entered politics because I wanted to influence the political situation -- to do something about the Israeli-Palestinian question. This is my drive to enter politics. (Washington Post)
Martin Luther King: "Modern-Day Prophet"
by James Morrison
 Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon hailed Martin Luther King when he honored the slain civil rights leader in a ceremony at the Israeli Embassy at the annual commemoration of King's birthday. "Rev. King was a modern-day prophet, a veritable reincarnation of Jeremiah or Isaiah, as well as an American patriot," he said. (Washington Times)
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