NEW YORK (JTA) — Ted Turner apologized for saying that both Israel and the Palestinians are engaged in terrorism.

"I want to make it absolutely clear that my view was and is that there is a fundamental distinction between the acts of the Israeli government and the Palestinians," the founder of CNN and the vice chairman of AOL Time Warner said Tuesday. "I believe the Israeli government has used excessive force to defend itself, but that is not the same as intentionally targeting and killing civilians with suicide bombers."

In comments published Tuesday in a London newspaper, Turner was quoted as saying that "both sides are involved in terrorism." For its part, CNN issued a statement saying that Turner has no editorial oversight of the network.

Bush suspends Israel embassy move

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Bush postponed moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for an additional six months.

The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 requires the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem, but presidents since then have made use of a waiver enabling them to postpone the move for national security reasons. Bush said in a memo Monday that his administration "remains committed to beginning the process of moving our embassy to Jerusalem."

N.Y. rabbi calls off armed street patrols

NEW YORK (JTA) — A militant rabbi decided not to launch armed patrols in Jewish sections of Brooklyn. "The response was so overwhelmingly negative, but God forbid anything should happen, and then I'll have to say, 'I told you so,' Rabbi Yakove Lloyd said Sunday.

Last week, Lloyd announced that members of his Jewish Defense Group would patrol the streets, some carrying shotguns in bags, others with bats and lead pipes. He said the patrols were conceived after a suspected terrorist jailed in Iraq said in a TV interview aired recently that the terrorists who carried out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing originally wanted to target Jewish neighborhoods of Brooklyn.

The planned patrols had been criticized by local community leaders, and the police commissioner vowed that members of the group would be arrested if they carried weapons on the streets.