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JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel's Reform movement has petitioned the Supreme Court to force the minister of health to change a policy allowing only Orthodox-performed circumcisions in hospitals, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz has reported.

The petition was filed last month on behalf of a clinic that employs doctors willing to perform circumcisions for individuals who desire a non-Orthodox ceremony or who require circumcision for medical reasons.

Israel to compensate Maccabiah victims

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Australia's prime minister has welcomed Israel's offer to pay one-third of the compensation to the families of Australian athletes killed or injured in a bridge collapse at the opening of the 1997 Maccabiah Games.

John Howard was told of the offer at the start of his three-day visit to Israel this week.

Meanwhile, the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Jerusalem office called on Australia to help bring Nazi war criminals hiding in Australia to justice.

Demonstrators call for Ethiopian aliyah

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Several hundred Ethiopian-Israelis demonstrated outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on Sunday, demanding that Israel allow the immediate immigration of relatives waiting in Ethiopia.

Israeli Interior Minister Natan Sharansky recently promised to adopt measures to speed up the review of applications.

Meanwhile, two Israeli air force transport planes delivered 30 tons of supplies to Ethiopia last week to aid victims of the current drought. The humanitarian aid included food, medicine, and blankets taken directly from Israel Defense Force warehouses.

Television interview prompts a reunion

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The board chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem was reunited with a grandson of a Polish couple that hid his family during World War II.

The Israeli daily Yediot Achronot reported that the grandson contacted Shevach Weiss after seeing the former speaker of the Knesset appear on Polish television.