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Sundown: Israel Prepares for The Arab Storm

Plus ‘Arafatuous,’ Presbyterian Church boycotts settlements, and more

by
Marc Tracy
July 06, 2012
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, addresses Tahrir Square.(Khaled Desouki/AFP/GettyImages)
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, addresses Tahrir Square.(Khaled Desouki/AFP/GettyImages)

• David Ignatius reports that top-level Israeli thinking ranges from extremely skeptical of what is going on in the Arab world to downright scared of the storm that is to come. [WP]

• Hussein Ibish debunks Al Jazeera’s speculation that Yasser Arafat died of poisoning based on alleged traces of polonium on his final effects. [FP]

• While last night it declined (barely) to divest from Israel, the U.S. Presbyterian Church did vote today to boycott settlement-made goods and to give pensioners the opportunity to divest from certain companies, like Caterpillar, that allegedly abet the occupation. [Haaretz]

• At a Paris meeting of the Friends of Syria, Secretary of State Clinton lambasted Russia and China for continuing to enable the Assad regime. Problem is, not being f/Friends of Syria, Russia and China weren’t present. [WP]

• Eric Trager finds evidence in Cairo that the Muslim Brotherhood—which has the presidency and the parliament—is willing to bide its time and let the military retain ultimate control for now in expectation of payoff for its patience. [Foreign Affairs]

• In an unprecedented move, an entire Scientology mission has defected from the main branch and its controversial leader, David Miscavige. It’s the Haifa branch. [Village Voice]

• All those tales you’ve heard about Jewish genes—are they true or false? [Moment]

Have a good weekend, and be careful: it’s hot.

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.