Flush with success over his mediation efforts in Iraq, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to fly to southern Lebanon later this month to deal with Israel’s pledge to withdraw from its self-imposed security zone there if it is cleared of Hezbollah terrorists.

The Israeli government is falsely telling Jewish federation leaders that the conversion crisis is over, according to the leader of the Reform movement. “We think this is a political game by the government to try to proclaim victory out of what was a failure,” said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Reform movement’s Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
He said some members of the Knesset criticized the government this Monday during a debate on the recommendations of the Neeman Commission, which was created to resolve the conversion issue.