After paying a $250 deductible, Medicare will pay 75% of initial drug costs up to $2,250. At this point, however, a drug coverage gap labeled "the doughnut hole," forces seniors on Part D to bear the entire cost of their prescription drug expenses until reaching the $5,100 mark.

The controversy arose in August when Harris was quoted in the Florida Baptist Witness as saying, "If you are not electing Christians, tried and true, under public scrutiny and pressure, if you're not electing Christians then in essence you are going to legislate sin." She also claimed that the separation of church and state was "a lie."

When confronted by Fox News, Harris tried to sidestep her remarks by saying that she supported the State of Israel and Holocaust education. JSPAN President Jeff Pasek immediately wrote to leaders of both the Florida Republican Party and the Republican National Committee calling on them to repudiate Harris' comments, noting that "neither support for Israel nor endorsement of Holocaust education will smooth over open pandering to religious bigotry."

JSPAN's letter was reported in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper, but Republican Party officials failed to reply. After Harris won the Florida primary to become the official GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Bill Nelson, Pasek sent another round of letters pressing the same group of party officials for a response to his first letter. He also wrote to the state and national leadership of the Republican Jewish Coalition seeking to have them intervene with the party to issue a formal denunciation of Harris' comments.

The irony behind this story is that JSPAN has yet to receive its copy of the letter from the Florida GOP chairwoman even though it was purportedly sent almost three weeks ago and released to the Sarasota Herald Tribune last week. Nor has the Republican Jewish Coalition responded.

• View JSPAN's original letter to Republican leaders condemning Katherine Harris' remarks
• Click here to read the Sarasota Herald Tribune's coverage

The bill, in its current form, would require the state to provide certified interpreters who would be obligated to "to convey spoken and written English into the language of the person with limited English proficiency and to convey oral and written statements by the person into spoken English."

JSPAN lauds both the State Senate, which unanimously approved the legislation, and the House Judiciary Committee, for their vote to send the bill to the floor for a full vote.

View JSPAN's letter to the Pennsylvania Legislature urging the passage of Senate Bill 669.

The Lebanon war is over, for now, but Israeli soldiers remain in Hezbollah’s hands. The tenuous cease-fire is holding but Hezbollah remains an armed force with the ability to hit Israeli cities when it chooses. In Gaza, progress toward a unity government has stalled with no interlocutor apparently able to convince Hamas to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept agreements previously negotiated by Israel and the PLO. With Palestinian living conditions deteriorating rapidly, it would not take much to spark a Palestinian civil war and reignite the intifada.

There is, of course, a vocal minority in Israel that prefers that Israel not have a viable Palestinian negotiating partner. These people worry that because successful negotiations inevitably lead to mutual compromise, it is best when the Arab side is represented by its most extreme elements. Then the “no partner” mantra can be employed and everything will stay the same.

But most Israelis and Palestinians do not cherish the status quo. According to the polls, some 70% of Israelis want to see the resumption of negotiations with the Palestinians toward the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.