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Daybreak: Ransom and Bounty

Shalit’s release could be imminent, plus Palin’s wisdom, scholarly dissent, and more in the news

by
Hadara Graubart
November 18, 2009

• American Arabic-language news network Alhurra reported that “credible sources” say that kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will be released by Hamas next Friday in exchange for “hundreds of prisoners.” [Ynet]
• Meanwhile, a Hamas-supporting charity organization in Gaza is offering a bounty of $1.4 million for the capture of any Israeli soldier. [AP]
• Sarah Palin to Barbara Walters: “I believe that the Jewish settlements should be allowed to be expanded upon, because that population of Israel is, is going to grow. More and more Jewish people will be flocking to Israel in the days and weeks and months ahead. And I don’t think that the Obama administration has any right to tell Israel that the Jewish settlements cannot expand.” [ABC]
• A group of academics resigned from the board of the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, claiming the organization is too restrictive in limiting access to its archive. [AP]
• The Associated Press presents an annotated list of the former Nazis who have faced prosecution in Germany since 2001. [AP]

Hadara Graubart was formerly a writer and editor for Tablet Magazine.